[MR] Water, beer, and things to drink

[Elspeth Payne]

RE: water in period...some assorted thoughts here.  

Most folks who dug wells knew their business.  They knew how they needed to be 
sited, how far from outhouses and cemeteries etc.   Some folks wouldn't have, of 
course, and would suffer accordingly.  But unlike us SCAdians, who so often have 
to figure it out for ourselves, in communities there would have been ways to 
learn lore like that and clearly identified people who knew it. (Boy, it's hard 
not to say that in a ridiculously general way!)

Distilled beverages were around at least by the 3rd c (the process wasn't new 
then, that's just the earliest date I have in my head), when Greek sailors 
distilled seawater on deck to get fresh water.  As far as I know so far the 
process was used for things like  1) chemical processes such removing the gold 
from embroidery, 2) making medicinal tonics, 3) creating fresh water in small 
quantities, 4) creating cosmetics and fragrant oils.  The medicinal tonics I 
have encountered seem to be based on distilled wine, pretty much exclusively.

Not all beers and wines were as strong as ours.  Most of the ordinary ones don't 
seem to have been - especially the wines.  In Europe there does seem to have 
been the strong bias against drinking water.  It seems to have represented 
poverty and abstinence - you read of holy orders drinking water, for example.  
Once the Crusaders got to the Middle East - anyone know  how they adjusted?  
Surely they adjusted?  Very light beer might have solved dehydration problems, 
but wine probably wouldn't have, plus transportation and purchasing expenses, 
etc etc...

I also notice that most period drinking vessels were smaller than I expect - 
even Arab Boy's wonderful drinking glasses (he says) are copies of glasses that 
are perhaps 2/3 of the size of the ones he makes.

Cheers,
Baroness Sorcha