merryn

Tankards of the British Iron Age Iron Age tankards are stave-built wooden vessels completely covered or bound in copper-alloy sheet. The distinctive copper-alloy handles of these vessels frequently display intricate ‘Celtic’ or La Tè...

A fine analysis of tankards from Iron Age Britain. Probably for ale, I'd say. #IronAge #ale #archaeology 🍻🏺
www.academia.edu/17869940/Tan...

Unlike many other chapter houses, the ribbed vaulting of Southwell Minster's C13th chapter house doesn't have a central pier.
It hovers over the space like a starburst in dramatic light.

Maltsters: part of our cultural heritage. Tours of the commercial floor maltings, one of the last left in England. Definitely on my list of things to do. #Warminster #Maltings
www.heritageopendays.org.uk/submission-e...

Interesting. Some medicinal herbs are only efficacious when mixed with alcohol, as you may already know. Alkeloids.

Was this village built on top of a Stone Age ritual enclosure...? 🤔

LiDAR has revealed that Kirk Hammerton, N. Yorkshire, may stand on top of surviving Neolithic henge! The Avebury of the North!

#archaeology #prehistory #history #historic #Yorkshire 🏺

Wine drinking is an interesting idea. That's quite a lot of wine! What's the evidence? Cauldrons such as these could also be useful to an Iron Age brewer to heat the water for the mash. Known as brew kettles, some are still used today by farmhouse brewers. Copper is especially good to conduct heat.

Hello! No, never done that.

Lovely old wooden barrel, with withies. Well, I think they are withies, holding it all together.

Beer?

Held together with withies, which is interesting. And could have held ale or beer, a barrel that size, I agree. @welwynarchsoc.bsky.social

Martyn Cornell's major study of the origins, history & revival of Porter & Stout, published posthumously. A great legacy.

protzonbeer.co.uk/reviews/2025...

Yes, they'd be good.

Agree. So disappointed with them, over and over again.

A hill right in front of the front door.

Very bitter. Hard as rocks. Not easily crushed. As a child I lived next door to an old couple who made crabapple wine. I helped out. I remember adding huge amounts of white sugar necessary for fermentation and also demijohns bubbling away. Never tasted any, obviously. They cooked the crabapples.

Yes, they had ale. Equipment for making ale from the malt in Iron Age Britain hasn't yet been recognised. Mash tuns of wood, eg tubs, don't survive. Spent grain fed to animals. Ale consumed. One item was the brew kettle for the hot water, however, mostly interpreted as cooking pots.
#IronAge #ale

Will do. Thanks. It's quite tricky to get the apple juice without some sort of efficient press. I'm curious about when cider making began. Are crab apples sweet enough?

When milk fats are identified in ancient pots it could be that they were sealed with butter, not milk. We've used butter to seal unglazed pots. It really works.

What's the oldest known evidence/era for a cider press?

I've done some internet searching and, so far, not come up with much yet, so I'm appealing for information from all you experts and knowledgeable folk out there. Archaeologists, historians and especially cider makers.

Mashing in, an important part of making ale/beer from malted grain. Mix crushed malt with hot, not boiling, water. Leave the mash for an hour or so. Then you have malt sugars. Every all grain brewer does this. It's the part of the brewing process where you make fermentable sugars. #mashing #mashtun.

Maybe interesting for @merryn02.bsky.social and @larsga.bsky.social

Thanks very much. Nice examples!

Cider-Pressing Equipment: A History | Juicing.Systems Mobile Cider Pressing We look at the progressoin of cider technology from old stone mills to the hyper-efficient modern equipment provided by Juicing.Systems.

Not sure that would work for getting juice from apples efficiently. Cider presses seem fairly 'modern' thing. See
www.ciderculture.com/juicing-syst...

What's the oldest known evidence/era for a cider press?

I've done some internet searching and, so far, not come up with much yet, so I'm appealing for information from all you experts and knowledgeable folk out there. Archaeologists, historians and especially cider makers.

Prehistoric whisks! Love food processing archaeology

One piece of wood. Still used today in some places. A long time ago I went to a workshop with Jacqui Woods and she had some of these. They work as well as our modern whisks.

At least one killed in Israeli strike on Gaza Red Crescent HQ, says aid group The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said Sunday that an Israeli strike on its headquarters in Khan Younis, Gaza, killed at least one staff member and wounded three others. The attack comes two…

The IDF has murdered more people seeking aid and has also bombed the headquarters of the Red Crescent killing one of it's staff and injuring others.

www.france24.com/en/middle-ea...

Photo of copper alloy shallow bowl with lid and spout fitting, with red enamel deocration. The spout looks vaguely anthropomorphic.

Photo showing the strainer inside the objects; it's a large plate covering the spout area, decorated with pierced geometric-floral design.

🏺 Obsessed with this little thing from British SW very late Iron Age/early Roman (Chettle); it's described as a strainer for wine but does anyone have evidence for actual uses for these, and other comparisons from British IA?

Image:https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_2009-8006-2

Good question. I don't have evidence for actual use like this. Interesting cos Iron Age 'wine strainers' and 'mixing bowls' are often identified. What do they mean in practical or technological terms? Are they straining wine because there's bits in it? Were they really used for this? An assumption?