Alewife (trade)

Alewife, also brewess or brewster, is a historical term for a woman who brewed ale for commercial sale.

The word "alewife" is first known to have been used in England in the 15th century and is defined as "a woman who keeps an alehouse." However, the terms 'alewife' and also 'brewster' are used synonymously in the historiography of Medieval England, and the term "alewife" is now commonly used in translations of ancient texts to refer to any woman who brewed and sold ale dating back to the beginning of recorded history.

Although the profession was later taken over by males, the original brewing profession back in ancient Mesopotamia was principally performed by women. Women also brewed the majority of ale for both domestic and commercial use in England before the Black Death, and some women continued brewing into the 17th century. Ale represented a key part of the medieval English diet as it was both the most affordable and clean beverage available. The precise amount of ale that was ingested daily is not known, but it appears to have been up to a gallon a day per person. Because ale went sour within days after being brewed, constant production was necessary to meet demand. Therefore ale was produced in huge quantities using a somewhat simplistic and generally known, although time intensive, process using predominantly malted barley or oats. The ale trade in all of England was predominantly regulated by the Assize of Bread and Ale, "which linked the price of ale to the price of grain and which ordained public checks on the quality of the brew." Operating outside of this regulation was forbidden and handled severely by the courts.

Public records in the Medieval period before the Black Death include regulation legislation that treat brewing as a solely female profession, indicating that brewing ale was dominated by women. This female dominance of the trade likely evolved because brewing was not a specialist trade requiring any extensive education, was only marginally profitable, and could be done in the home to supplement regular income. The lack of needed specialization and physical location within the home made ale brewing an accessible trade for women to add income to the household in both towns and countryside communities. Elite wives also apparently engaged in this activity in a supervisory capacity over their female servants without social stigma. Records regarding medieval brewing often leave out the poorer families in which women were almost certainly brewing in small amounts for consumption and irregular sale, possibly because authorities focused only on regular brewing on a larger scale than many families could afford to produce.

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