>Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2001 10:37:59 -0700
>From: "Terry L. Taylor" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Beef and Butt Beer
>Sender: H-Net List for British and Irish History <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Reply-to: H-Net List for British and Irish History <[log in to unmask]>
>Organization: Shoreline Community College, Seattle, WA
>Original-recipient: rfc822;[log in to unmask]
>
>Date:             Mon, 25 Jun 2001 08:18:36 -0400
>From:             Eric Tenbus <[log in to unmask]>
>
>Sebastian:
>
>The term "butt' refers to the wooden cask in which beer was stored.  "Entire
>butt" seems to have been a name that initially referred to a blend of
>three ales
>(pale, brown, and old, the latter being aged for up to a year), a.k.a. the
>"three
>threads."  According to Roger Protz in his book Classic Stout and Porter,
>entire
>butt, also sometimes called simply entire, co-existed with another flourishing
>beer that soon became the most popular ale in England, that being
>porter.  Over
>time, however, the name entire butt came to mean the same as porter, as London
>drinkers often confused the two beers.  This happened in the first few decades
>of
>the nineteenth century.  Eventually, large brewers such as Whitbread
>phased out
>the production of entire butt as a separate ale.
>
>I hope that helps somewhat.
>
>Eric G. Tenbus, Ph.D.
>Central Missouri State University