Cock Ale
England, circa 1670s CE
- 8 gallons ale
- 1 large cock
- 2 qts. sack
- 1 lb. dates
- 4 lbs. raisins
- 2 nutmegs
- 2 cloves
- 4 flakes mace
- Take one large cock; the older the better.
- Properly caw and gut the bird.
- Grind the cock down with a mortar, making sure to split the bones. If you are using a live cock, skip these first steps and proceed to steps below.
- Place cock in a canvas bag, along with your raisins, nutmeg, cloves, mace, and dates.
- Set aside two quarts of the finest sack (fortified wine).
- Take eight gallons of partially-fermented ale and pour into a 10-gallon cask.
- Lower the cock bag, add your sack into the cask and seal.
- When fermentation is complete, unseal cask, remove cock bag and strain ale to remove particulates.
- Bottle and serve. Drink to absorb the characteristics of a cock.
From the History Shapes Cookbook, available now:
Think you're tough? If you’re not pounding frosty pints of Cock Ale, think again, wimp. At least, that's all according to brewers from the late 17th century and 18th century.
Cock Ale was a type of beer fermented with the bones and meat of a rooster along with spices and other aromatics for a little kick. It was all the rage when it hit the scene in the late 1600s, first appearing in diplomat and philosopher Kenelm Digby's The Closet Opened in 1669. The brew was described as “pleasant” and “provocative” well into the 1700s by its fans and admirers. It's also been heard through the grapevine that this raisin-chicken beer was preferred over wine by King William III.
But why? Was it the flavor profile? The drinkability? The way it paired with a nice Bubonic Plague?
Nope. People drank it because they wanted to be cocks. Literally.
Cock Ale was swigged to absorb the admirable qualities of a rooster: attributes like bravery, strength, and courage. The English believed a man could guzzle down a few pints of Cock Ale and amplify his inner stud muffin with just a few quick gulps.
That vitality-boosting mojo was probably the reason Cock Ale was also used as a cough syrup. It was said to be “good against a Consumption, and to restore a decay'd Nature,” by John Nott in The Cooks and Confectioner's Dictionary in 1723.
Now before you go drowning Foghorn Leghorn in your Bud Light, you should know that Cock Ale was pretty much out of fashion by the late 1700s. Mentions of it get more and more scarce the closer we get to the 1800s. No one is quite sure why, but folks stopped drinking Cock Ale almost entirely around that time.
But that doesn't mean it's not still with us. Rumor has it that Cock Ale inspired the word “cocktail,” which was first recorded in 1803 around the time the original drink went the way of the dodo.
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