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Everyday Ale:
Low alcohol (2-3%), consumed daily by everyone including children (safer than water, which was often contaminated). This ale was brewed frequently, consumed young, providing hydration and calories.
Feast Ale:
Stronger (5-7%), more carefully brewed, reserved for special occasions. This was the ale poured at festivals, offered to honored guests, consumed at celebrations.
Aged Ale:
Strongest (8-10%+), aged months or years, rare and valuable. This ale was tribute, dowry, inheritance. Some households maintained casks of aged ale as wealth-store—liquid assets that could be consumed or traded.
Medicinal Ale:
Brewed with specific herbs for healing purposes. Ale infused with willow bark for pain. Ale with meadowsweet for fever. Ale with yarrow for wounds. The alcohol extracted the herbs’ medicinal compounds, making them more potent and more palatable.
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