What evocative and wonderful poetics reside in the names for old measures
of ale and beer!

British measures (Clarke, 1891, p. 37):

9 gallons make 1 FIRKIN
2 firkins make 1 KILDERKIN
2 kilderkins make 1 BARREL
3 kilderkins make 1 HOGSHEAD
2 hogsheads make 1 BUTT
2 butts make 1 TUN

One BUTT is a lot of beer or ale.

F.W. Clarke, WEIGHTS, MEASURES AND MONEY, OF ALL NATIONS, New York: D.
Appleton & Company, 1891.

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From: David Fahey <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fwd: Re: Beef and Butt Beer
Date: Monday, June 25, 2001 10:51 AM

>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