A Brief History
Today, June 15, 2017, we raise a mug and wish all of our British readers a happy Beer Day Britain, Britain’s National Beer Day.
Digging Deeper
The date of this relatively new holiday has been celebrated annually on 15 June since only 2015. The founders of the holiday chose the date because 15 June is also the date that the Magna Carta, one of Britain’s most important legal documents in the island’s entire history, was sealed in 1215. If you are wondering what the heck does the Magna Carta, a peace treaty between an unpopular king and his rebellious barons, have to do with beer, you will be interested to know that Ale is actually mentioned in clause 35 of Magna Carta. The clause states: “Let there be throughout our kingdom a single measure for wine and a single measure for ale and a single measure for corn, namely ‘the London quarter’.”
English barons were the driving force behind the Medieval Magna Carta, but beer sommelier, writer and drinks educator Jane Peyton deserves credit for instigating and driving forward the modern Beer Day Britain holiday. Her brain child took place for the first time in 2015 with its main focus being the National Cheers To Beer. The event takes place at 7 pm when people also sing the Cheers To Beer anthem co-written, of course, by none other than Jane Peyton.
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Historical Evidence
For more information on beer in British history, please see…
Bennett, Judith M. Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600. Oxford University Press, 1996.