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. ---------- 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