Slainte: Would you Drink Beer from 1574

In September 2021, after several years of preparation, the FoodCult team recreated a beer last brewed in the sixteenth century. In Ireland and across early modern Europe, beer was central to social life and a vital source of nutrition. But up to now we have had little sense of what that beer was like, how strong it really was, and how much energy it provided. By reconstructing the recipes, equipment, and techniques used at Dublin Castle four hundred years ago, the team set out to answer these important questions.

Undertaking this project was an immense interdisciplinary effort, bringing together historians, archaeologists, scientists, craftspeople, and also storytellers and creative audiovisual artists. Each step of the journey was documented by a film crew who followed the adventure through archives, fields, kitchens and laboratories, capturing the rich atmospheric sound and visuals sights of the experiment.

Join for the launch of Drunk? Adventures in Sixteenth-Century Brewing, followed by a discussion with the film’s director, Shreepali Patel, renowned food and drinks historian, Marc Meltonville, and Susan Flavin, the FoodCult project leader. The event is also features an opportunity to hear from Maurice Deasy, a brewer who is working to bring heritage skills and ingredients to the modern brewing industry, and to taste some of the beers produced by Canvas Brewery using heritage Irish grains.

This film is an output of the FoodCult Project (Grant Agreement 803486), funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. This event is organised as part of the Trinity Arts & Humanities Research Festival 2023.

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