The trouble with being descended from a brewer, no matter how long ago — Brewing

"Much good beer has doubtless been made from very inferior malt, also vast quantities of so-called good beer are made by men who never even saw a proper mash; but neither of these facts can upset or affect the assertion that it is necessary to pay strict and careful attention to the drying of malt to produce a wort of uniform quality and absolute soundness. By careful working, inferior barley can be made into fairly sound and useful malt. By the employment of considerable skill... a brewer can make very good beer from indifferent malt, but his efforts, if carried back to the , are much more certain and reliable in their effects. No brewer needs to be told how much easier is his work, and more certain in its results, if he has malt well made and soundly dried."

"Many of the historical brews were fun to drink. The meads brought on laughter. The gruit ales made people talkative. Dr. Butlers ale induced a peculiar golden heaviness. Some were bottled havoc. Whatever their effect, I was fascinated by the process of brewing a historical text into being. Old brewing recipes are records of how yeasts have etched themselves into human lives and minds over the last few hundred years."

"[C]ultured yeasts have only been in the winemaking picture within the last century. For thousands of years previously, all wine was fermented on wild (indigenous) yeast. Some old world wineries in France still ferment high-end wines on the local yeast."