What drinks did people drink in the 1600's?

Answer 1

Actually neither coffee nor tea were available in Britain before 1650, well after Shakespeare's day. Mild ale was safer to drink than water and much more common. From Shakespeare's works, and especially in the dialogues of the notorious tipplers Sir Toby Belch and Sir John Falstaff we know that an extremely popular drink was sack, fortified dry white Spanish wine, the modern equivalent being Sherry. Sometimes this was heated by thrusting a hot Poker into it, and in such cases it was called "burnt sack". Sir Toby says "Come, come, I'll go burn some sack. 'Tis too late to go to bed now." Twelfth Night, Act II Scene 3)

Answer 2

Middle Ages Drink

The people of the Middle Ages enjoyed to drink, and as water was often unclean, it was a necessity. The poor drank ale, mead or cider and the rich were able to drink many different types of wines. Beer is not only one of the oldest fermenting beverages used by man, but it is also the one which was most in vogue in the Middle Ages.

Answer 3

In the 1500's water supplies were often to dirty to drink and milk was extremely difficult to keep fresh. So, the main beverage during that time period were wine and ale for the wealthy. The beverage most common for peasants was ale.

Answer 4

In England there was no beer in the medieval period - people drank ale (Old English ealu, middle English godale or ale). The difference is that beer always includes hops as a flavouring - ale does not. Medieval people had many uses for hops, including as a dye plant for colouring cloth, but did not use it in brewing.

Ale was made from water, grain, yeast and herb flavourings.

The grain (or corn) was generally oats or oats and barley; this was malted before being flavoured - the herbs used included alecost (costmary).

The use of hops in brewing (and therefore the first beer) started in the post-medieval period.

Answer 5

Alcoholic Beverages were safer to drink than water. Wine and beer.