John A R Compton-Davey - Brewery Historybreweryhistory.com/journal/archive/128/Audit.pdf · holder, of a brewhouse at the rear of the College with its equipment for 11 years from

2 Journal of the Brewery History Society

Audit ale - a short history

John A R Compton-Davey

One occasionally comes across items atauctions or specialist breweriana saleswhich give a glimpse of an almost forgot-ten traditional special brew. 'Audit ale'has remained something of an enigma asmost easily-accessible information isscant, and that which is offered in printis often generalised, erroneous or mis-leading at best, with typical descriptionsoffering a 'Betjemanesque' nostalgiacontaining anecdotal accounts with littleor no analysis or referencing as in, forexample, H.A. Monckton's, A History ofEnglish Ale and Beer.1 Further, theEncyclopaedia of Beer edited byChristine P. Rhodes in 1997 declares that'Audit ale is a special brew originallyserved to students at English collegeswhen grades were announced followingan oral examination.’ This simply was notthe case, (refer definition p.2). EvenHutchinson's Encyclopaedia definition iserroneous as it states that audit ale isspecifically an Oxford brew, 'a specialstrong ale used at certain Oxford col-leges on audit day',2 and was served atmost colleges, and certainly atCambridge. Ironically another sourcemaintain's a contrary viewpoint, in that

audit ale is essentially a Cambridgebrew, 'Audit Ale ... is the famous brew ofTrinity College, Cambridge'.3 Misleadingnotions of the constituency of audit alealso abound, from 'a mixture of standardale with the addition of a small amount ofport' to 'classic pale ale' - both of whichare completely erroneous.4

The aim of this article is to attempt totrace the history of this special brew fromits origins in medieval seigniorial, craftguild and religious matters, and famedusage within the Oxbridge colleges, upto modern times where it later becamesynonymous with potent drink and wasmuch imitated in the form of bottled'barley wine'.5 The production of audit alewill also be discussed as fortunately,contemporary documentary evidencesurvives, and finally its role in literaturewill also be examined.

Audit Ale

The Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, a diction-ary of academic and colloquial termsused at the University of Cambridgegives the preface thus:

ALE. Cambridge has long been celebratedfor its Ale: we have ourselves quaffed no

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* This article has undergone peer review.

3Brewery History Number 128

small quantity of this inspiring beverage andremember the rapturous exclamation of acelebrated classic on receiving some dozensof Audit stout, All hail to the Ale, it sheds ahalo around my head.6

This dictionary, further noted:

AUDIT. In the University of Cambridge,England, a meeting of the master and fellowsto examine or audit the College accounts.This is succeeded by a feast, on which occa-sion is broached the very best ale, for whichreason ale of this character is called ‘auditale’.7

The colleges have been long noted fortheir potent 'Audit ales' especially brewedfor the Feasts held on the annual audit ofaccounts from at least the mid fourteenthcentury, and was a brewing tradition thatlasted well into the twentieth century.8 Tocommemorate this state of affairs, theCambridge Folk Museum currently hason permanent display a bottle of JesusCollege Audit Ale associated with thisnow long-forgotten practice.

As can be seen from the above descrip-tion, the 'Audit' was the official annualinspection of the accounts drawn up atthe end of a financial year, celebrated insome colleges by an audit feast and, verycommonly the consumption of speciallybrewed audit ale. It was also the occa-sion at which formerly, a dividend9 wasdeclared.

As the Oxbridge colleges were more orless self-governing institutions who had

to keep strict control over their ownfinancial expenditure and income andthus kept excellent accounts from theirestablishment.10 As the colleges' mainsource of income was derived fromendowed land and property which wasleased to tenants, it seems inevitable thatan annual audit was carried out, cele-brated with an audit feast. This can beillustrated at Oxford University from anearly date: Even by 1248 there is mentionof the two Proctors who were theancestors of the University Chest Office,rendering income and expenditureaccounts, (before the Vice-Chancellor'sOffice held responsibility for them). TheirLand Agent would collect the rents fromthe University farms on or near Lady Day,traveling round on horseback to visit, andif successful in collecting the rent, wouldtreat the tenants in some local hostelry.11

The Proctors themselves would spend asmuch as 10 per cent of the total collectedrents on the annual audit feast whichlasted three days!12 Today, the Proctors'Dinners are much more modest, althoughperhaps the University has an eventsomewhat similar to the audit feastknown as the Tenants' Dinner.13

In the Oxbridge colleges, the annualAudit Feast along with the Founder's DayFeast was amongst the two mostimportant events in the college socialcalendar. The Audit Day usually held inlate January or early February at the endof the then fiscal year, was also theoccasion when the College's tenants paidtheir annual rents. Most tenants broughtalong a gift as a goodwill gesture, (later,

almost always specifically incorporatedinto the contract!) which was usually inthe form of poultry, fish or the like. Onefinds a typical example in that of a brew-house leased by Emmanuel College,Cambridge:

Lease to Edward Miller of Cambridge, inn-holder, of a brewhouse at the rear of theCollege with its equipment for 11 years fromMichelmas 1676 with annual rent £28 & 2capons at each Audit.14

Following the receipt of their rental dues,the college offered the tenant a strong,potent alcoholic beer drink to concludebusiness.15 (The 'audit ale' being thesame which would be later served at thecollege's Audit Feast). This practice wasnot unusual, for concluding businesstransactions over beer became the normin England. Beer was clearly consumedbecause it was safe to drink as well asnutritious, however there were otherdesirable qualities associated with thestaple drink, for beer acted as an impor-tant social lubricant used to conductcommerce.16 A Frenchman visiting aCambridge college clergyman in 1672commented on the necessity to drink,'two or three pots of beer during our par-ley; for no kind of business is transactedin England without the interaction of potsof beer'.17

Festivals and Feasts

The practice of celebrating a feast atthe audit has its roots in early medieval

society: Before the Reformation, theEnglish year was a calendar of feasts,festivals, and holy days (hence themodern term of holidays). Four of theseholy days, spaced comparatively evenlythroughout the year, were marked forsuch things as the collection of rentsand the paying of feudal tributes, andwhen fairs were usually held.18 Thesefour were Lady Day19 (25th March, theFeast of the Annunciation), MidsummerDay (24th June, the Feast of St. John theBaptist), Michaelmas (29 September,the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel),and Christmas (25th December, ofcourse, the Feast of the Nativity ofChrist).

In modern Festival feasts days: 25th

December, Christmas Day is where the'Feast of the Nativity of Christ' is still verycelebrated. In Hilaire Belloc's novel oftravel, The Four Men, (1912) the titlecharacters supposedly represent differ-ent facets of the author's personality. Oneof the four improvises a playful song atChristmas, Lines for a Christmas Cardwhich includes the verse;

May all good fellows20 that here agree Drink Audit Ale in heaven with me,21

And may all my enemies go to hell! Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! May all my enemies go to hell! Noel! Noel!

Through these lines, Hilaire Belloc fullyencapsulates the esprit de Noël.22 HisLines for a Christmas Card are meant ina jovial and light-hearted spirit (although


it should be noted that it was seen bymany critics as fairly gauche and ill-conceived, even to the point of beingregarded as somewhat offensive).

Audit Feasts were not merely celebratedwithin the Oxbridge colleges as describedin the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam,23 butnationwide, for example, when the feudallandlord received an annual income fromtenanted farmers. As events such asthe collection of fees and taxes and thegiving of feudal tribute tend towards thedour, often a feudal lord would arrange aspecific meeting and have a special alebrewed for these occasions. This wouldensure a certain amount of merrimentamong the common folk once their tributehad been paid and the seigniorial burdenlifted. This too, tended to be called 'auditale', since it was drank around the time ofthe audit of accounts.24

In some manors the dues were arrangedto form a complete outfit for the consump-tion of the lord's household. The manorsof the Abbey of Ramsey25 (Huntingdon,Cambridgeshire) were bound to renderamongst general foods, 24 gallons ofbeer, 48 gallons of malt, and more perti-nently 24 gallons of audit ale.26 From theabove, evidence appears to indicate (nodoubt for sound pragmatic reasons) thataudit ale was often supplied by one ormore of the same tenants in the firstinstance in part payment for their rent.27

This practice was continued well up tothe late nineteenth century in countrysituations and was naturally alluded to inpoplar fiction. Lord Lytton, the Victorian

playwright and politician, novel, What WillHe Do with It, (1858) he perfectly setsthe scene of the collection of tenants'rents and the subsequent country auditfeast.28 Evidently, from the extract below,'Mr. Fairthorn's punch' was used as thespecial audit ale.29

Then the rustic gossips went on to talk of therent-day which was at hand of the audit feast,which, according to immemorial custom,30

was given at the old Manor-house on thatsame rent-day supposed that Mr. Fairthornwould preside that the Squire himself wouldnot appear made some incidental observa-tions on their respective rents and wheat-crops-remarked that they should have a goodmoonlight for their ride back from the auditfeast - cautioned each other, laughing, not todrink too much of Mr. Fairthorn's punch.

A similar instance is apparent fromThomas Love Peacock, the Englishsatirist and author, and close friend andcontemporary of the poet, Shelley. Hissatirical romance, Crotchet Castle, pub-lished in 1831, makes mention of Rev.Dr. Folliott, who complains that the pro-visions for the audit feast had beenconsumed prior to the event, inclusive ofthe audit ale which had been 'drunk up'.31

The audit feast as one of the annual gath-erings between landowner and tenants,became almost synonomous with countryliving, and was often used by authors toconvey this. Eleanor Farjeon, the Englishauthor of children's stories and plays,poetry, biography, history and satire whowrote Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard


(1921). This book, set in Sussex, includedescriptions of real village country life,where 'Old Gillman filled two of the mugs,… And they toasted each other in goodAudit Ale' presumably at the countrysquire/landlord's annual audit feast.32

Likewise, Angela Thirkell, was an Englishnovelist who set most of her works inAnthony Trollope's Barsetshire, his fiction-al English county - gives mention of auditale in her novel What Did It Mean?.33

Technological developments in agricul-tural mechanisation during the eighteenthand nineteenth centuries required large,enclosed fields in order to be workable.This led to a series of government acts,culminating finally in the GeneralInclosure Act of 1801.34 Enclosure orinclosure (the latter is used in legal doc-uments and place names) is the termused in England and Wales for theprocess by which arable farming in openfield systems was ended. It is alsoapplied to the process by which somecommons (a piece of land owned by oneperson, but over which other peoplecould exercise certain traditional rights,such as allowing their livestock to grazeupon it), were fenced (enclosed) anddeeded or entitled to one or more privateowners, who would then enjoy the pos-session and fruits of the land to theexclusion of all others. The process ofenclosure was sometimes accompaniedby force, resistance, and bloodshed andremains among the most controversialareas of agricultural and economic his-tory in England. As E.P. Thompson pointsout, 'In agriculture the years between

1760 and 1820 are the years of whole-sale enclosure in which, in village aftervillage, common rights are lost'.35

The audit feast can therefore also beseen as a forum between landowner (orlandlord's agent) and tenant, where bothparties met up annually to discuss theyear's argricultural issues. The passagebelow reproduced from 'Tenant-Right',The Law Review and Quarterly Journal ofBritish and Foreign Jurisprudence of1850, being a typical example wherethere may be seen an element of distruston both parties.

To test this, let us imagine farmer Andrewslaying before the landlord's agent, at the rentday, a claim for so many rods of drainage …in Clay Meadow, and the statement being animpudent falsehood, would it not be very natu-ral for the agent to say at the audit feast to theother tenants, ‘Andrews tells me he has beendoing some drainage in Clay Meadow, thatwas so wet. It will do a great deal of good’.36

George Gordon, 6th Baron Byron, Englishpoet, although known predominantly as aleading figure in Romanticism, also heldmany political agendas and it is in thiscontext that he alluded to audit ale in hislate satirical poem the Age of Bronze inconnection with home politics of LandedInterest and tenants, associated with the'agricultural revolution' and issues over'Enclosure' prevalent throughout this theperiod.37

But where is now the goodly audit ale?The purse-proud tenant, never known to fail?


The farm which never yet was left on hand?The marsh reclaim'd to most improving land?The impatient hope of the expiring lease?The doubling rental? What an evil's peace!In vain the prize excites the ploughman's skillIn vain the Commons pass their patriot Bill;The Landed Interest (you may understandThe phrase much better leaving out the Land)The land self-interest groans from shore toshore,for fear that plenty should attain the poor.Up, up again, ye rents! exalt your notes,Or else the ministry will lose their votes,And patriotism, so delicately nice,Her loaves will lower to the market price.

Ecclesiastical

Throughout the early middle ages, theChurch, and great monastic institutionsaccumulated great wealth through landownership endowments, which similarlyto colleges, as landlord, there estateshad to be managed financially. One oftenfinds a dedicated audit room38 in anabbey or cathedral where this wealth wasmanaged on a daily basis and accountskept in order. Therefore it comes as littlesurprise that there are numerous refer-ences to annual audits followed by afeast and audit ale served for the occa-sion. The audit feast was often regardedas the regular high (social) point of theyear, for example, the Audit Feast held atRochester Cathedral in November 1571is known to have cost the extravagantsum of £8.2s.9½d. in expenses.39

Unsurprisingly, the Audit Feast wasnormally celebrated on a dedicated

Saint's Day. For example, certainCistercian abbeys each year, prepared forAudit Day, on the Feast of St. Lambert,(17th September), after the close of thechapter general.40

Likewise there are also references toaudit ale from the Augustinian Abbey ofHaughmond in Shropshire, which showsthat an ordinance for the office of Prior,issued by the abbot in 1439, and con-firmed by the Bishop, allowed the prior tohave 'for his recreation' a chamber underthe dormitory next to the parlour.41 Theordinance additionally stated that theprior was also to have the use of all thejewels and ornaments reserved for thechapel of St. Andrew and the Prior'schamber, but was to pay 16d. for thepittance of the convent when they cele-brated the obit of William Shrewsburyand 8d. to provide audit ale for the Abbotwhen he supervised the audit of thePrior's as well plate.42 Reference hasalso been made in connection when thedean and chapter of Worcester Cathedralfound 'the church in debte and the fab-ricke much in decay' in 1635, and agreedto reduce the expenses of the audit feastaccordingly.43

Another ecclesiastical example from Elycathedral in Cambridgeshire, where partsof the out buildings were used as abrewhouse (near the great gatewayknown as Ely Porta). The entrance, witha large and a small arch, is flanked byrooms, formerly a porter's lodge, on thesouth, was converted into a brewhouse.This was used for the brewing of chapter


and audit ale by the verger, WilliamSouthby, up to Dean Goodwin's time(1858 - 69)44 - how long prior toGoodwin's time audit ale was brewed isnot known,45 however as the upper floorswere in monastic times given over to theoffices for manorial business - the con-venience for distributing audit ale wouldsurely have been considered.

Ales

Other early associations are alsoapparent: Although the English year wasa calendar of feasts, festivals, and holydays, they were not, the only seasonaloccasions when beer was used. Therewere 'Ales' which were used primarily forfundraising - such as 'leet-ale' for whenthe manorial court, or court-leet, con-vened, and there was Whitsun-ale forWhitsuntide, and there were church-aleswhich went towards the upkeep of theparish church and alms for the poor, andwithin the colleges of Oxford andCambridge, the appropriately named col-lege-ales were prevalent, used to raisefunds to supplement the up-keep andmaintenance of college buildings in thepast.46 With regard to Church-Ales, apoint in case can be seen set in thegallery of the tower arch of St. Agnes,Cawston in Norfolk where an inscriptionreads:

God spede the plow and send us ale cornenow oor purpose for to make: At crow of cokof the plowlete of Sygate: Be mery and gladewat good ale yis work mad.47

This relates to a fundraising celebrationheld by a guild, in this case the PloughGuild of Sygate, in a parish village nearby.

Trade Guilds

Other societies who practiced feastswere the trade guilds, who historicallycelebrated two annual occasions, themain meeting and the auditing ofaccounts from the thirteenth to aroundthe mid eighteenth century. Despiteoccasional attempts to reduce spendingon entertainment, company celebrationsremained an important mode of urbansociability until at least the mid eigh-teenths century. Although some memberswere urging financial restraint, they onlysucceeded in moderating expenditure oncompany festivities (including the annualAudit Feast), because many memberswished to continue to enjoy frequentassociation with their guild. For example,from the late seventeenth century therewere also attempts within some tradecompanies to severely limit expenditureof the main guild cerebration. In 1690, forexample, the warden of the NewcastleHostmen48 banned 'festivalls and treats'.In 1702 the Newcastle Barber Surgeonsdecided they would limit the expense oftheir audit dinners to fifteen shillings perannum. In 1716 the Barber Surgeonstook the more drastic step of announcingthat no money whatsoever should bespent on an 'auditing feast'.49

In both these guilds, however, the major-ity of members were still sufficiently


committed to the customary annual guildcelebrations to ensure that theseattempts to economise failed to curtailspending. The Newcastle Hostmen, forexample, flouted their ban on guild feast-ing a year after it was agreed. From 1691to 1720s the company continued to cele-brate its two annual occasions, the mainmeeting and the auditing of accounts (i.e.audit feast). The Newcastle BarberSurgeons guild only obeyed their orderagainst guild celebrations for three years,and in 1728 the guild's Audit Feast costthe princely sum of £2.2s.0d.50 Similarly,with the Durham Mercers Company dur-ing the 1680s, the accounts show that inat least five of the years when such arestraining order was passed, a feast wasstill held.51 The Newcastle Shipwrightswere still enjoying celebrations in the1750s.52 Another guild, the Parish ClerksCompany of London audit feast was heldon Twelfth Night (6th January - 12 daysafter Xmas Day).53

However, the Guild system was not tolast and eventually went into decline. Thewriting on the wall seems to be when theguild system of the City of Londondecayed during the seventeenth century.(And naturally with it, their audit feasts)Despite its advantages for agriculturaland artisan producers, the guild becamea target of much criticism towards the endof the 1700s and the beginning of the1800s. They were believed to opposefree trade and hinder technologicalinnovation, technology transfer andbusiness development. With the end ofthe trade Guilds themselves, this natu-

rally and coincidentally ended the needfor Guild audit feasts.

The Cambridge Audit Feast

Within the Oxbridge colleges, the annualAudit Feast was usually held on the auditday in late January or early February atthe end of the then fiscal year, after thecollege had carried out its annual audit ofaccounts and settled its financial affairs.It was also the occasion at which former-ly, a dividend was declared.54

At what precise date, a specially brewedpotent ale was initially used at the AuditFeast is not known,55 however, recordsfrom at least the late sixteenth century atQueens' College, Cambridge indicatethat such a drink was specifically served.Certainly by 1580 onwards at theCollege, strong or 'double' ale (the bestquality and strength available) was usedat their 'Audit' Feast.

It will be apparent that these especiallypotent drinks were not specifically called'audit ales' in college accounts but moreprecisely very strong and best qualityavailable ale served at the Audit Feast.56

At the annual Feast audit ale was servedalong with other beers of lesser diminish-ing strength and some wine. Whilstrecords indicate that Queens' Collegecertainly brewed their own Strong andSmall beers for the Audit Feast as itevident from the accounts that they pur-chased the extra strong 'double Bere'from commercial brewers in the town.57


February 1580:'Item. To Fegon58 for a kilderkin of doblebeere leafte out off the auditt' - £0.4.0.59

'to ye Brewer for 2 H[ogsheads]. of dou-ble bere and one H. of strong bere left outin John Boyks accoumpts for ye Audit' -£0.30.6.60

At the Audit Feast, there was a senioritystructure in operation whereby the Fellowsdrank the stronger beers; however, itseems apparent that the undergraduatesdid at least get a taste of the strong aleeven if it was purely in the form of a toastpassing the loving cup.61 The beer for theFeast of 1586 show that double theamount of 'strong beer' to that of 'smallbeer' was ordered showing it was aspecial occasion when even the under-graduates would be able to consumestrong, quality ale.

January 1586:'Item paide for stronge beere to the audit2: hogsheads' - £0.24.0.'Item one hogshead of common beare forthe audit' - £0.6.0.62

The Feast was evidently a luxuriousoccasion, with an extravagance centredon food as well as the audit ale, as theaccounts reveal:

Audit January 1598:'given to my lord Lincoln's men for bring-ing a Swan & redd deare' - £0.2.6.'to Mr Middlton his man for bringing acalfe to the Audite' - £0.12.0.'Spent at the Audite in bred beare &meate' - £15.2.6.63

'for Cates,64 Bread, Beere, Wine & Halfea Boare for ye Audit' - £14.1.5.65

Further evidence endorses that the Feastcarried a certain degree of ceremonycomes down to us in an entry fromQueens' College in a bill for '2 Drummersat the Audit' at a cost of 2s.6d.66

However, it appears that this ratiogradually diminished considerably overtime. For the Audit Feast of 1625, onlyone third of 'strong beer' was ordered incomparison to 'small beer'. This couldpossibly relate to a temporary cost-cut-ting exercise on expenses, or due to therise in malt and fuel as strong beer costat least twice as much to produce thansmall beer.67

January 1624:'4 hogsheads of ordinarie beere and 2 ofstronge' - £3.10.0.

January 1625:'For 2 Hoggsh. Stronge & 6 ordinariebeare’ - £4.5.5.

By the nineteenth century it is apparentat the Cambridge colleges at least, thataudit ale was strictly for use at the HighTable, that is, for the consumption of theMaster, Fellows and their guests only.Whilst visiting Cambridge during 1823,Nathaniel Wheaton A.M., Rector ofChrist Church, Hartford received an invi-tation to be present at the 'Feast of theAudit' at Trinity College.; fortunately, hekept a journal of his experience which isreproduced below giving an excellent


insight into the ceremonial proceedings:

At the proper hour, we waited on the masterof Trinity, and accompanied him to the collegehall, to partake of the 'Feast of the Audit'.The professors, fellows, tutors, and fellow-commoners, were seated around an elevatedtable at the head of the hall. A long grace inLatin was read from a printed tablet, by themaster and vice-master, during which, theservitors were bringing in the dishes, and theconversation went on without interruption,and the same ceremony was repeated afterdinner. Whatever it might be in point of fact, ithad but little the appearance of being a reli-gious rite, and the blessing must have beeninaudible to most of the guests. The dinner,which consisted of two courses, was excellent, and the 'college ale' deserved allthe commendation it is accustomed toreceive. Two customs, said to be of feudalorigin, may be mentioned, to show the popular regard for the usages of former days.After the cloth has been removed, a richlyembossed silver urn, of the capacity of a gallon,68 is filled with college ale, and 'TrinityCollege' is drunk from it by all the guests ofthe upper table, standing. The enormous goblet commences its journey from the mas-ter, and makes its way by a zig-zag course tothe bottom, - each one pronouncing the venerated name as he wets his lips with thebeverage. This is followed by a capacioussalver of plate, replenished with rose-water,from which each guest dips a spoonful intohis wine glass, and wets his fingers and lips,using the table-cloth for a napkin, whichnever appears a second time on the table.69

A similar ceremonial tradition is still

enacted to this day at the Sidney SussexCollege, Cambridge Audit Feast,70

where dress is very formal: black tie withacademic gown for the Master, Fellowsand Guests. The 'loving cup', a largedouble-handled goblet, is passed downthe High Table. Three people stand up ata time. The person in the middle is hand-ed the cup by the person to their right.They bow to the person on either side ofthem, before reciting a tribute in latin "Inpiam memoriam Fundatricis nostrae"(translated ‘In pious memory of ourFoundress’ (Lady Frances, Countess ofSussex in 1596) before drinking. Afterbowing once more, the goblet is passedto the person on their left and so on andso forth.71

October Ale

Audit ale was traditionally brewed inOctober.72 This strong 'October ale' wasso called because October was consid-ered by most brewers to be the bestbrewing month; there were optimumweather conditions and the new season'smalt would still be fresh. It was widelybelieved that beer kept better from anOctober rather than a March brew, asnewly-brewed ale was more susceptibleto warm weather; once it was threemonths old, it was slightly more tolerantof higher temperatures.73 This is not tosay that strong ale was not brewed inMarch. Some brewers preferred thespring, and March beer is frequentlymentioned by seventeenth-century writers.Gervase Markham's recipe described in


1615, stated that 'the best March beere'required 'two quarters of malt to ahogshead of beer, plus a peck of pease,half a peck of wheat and half a peck ofoats', all ground together and mixed intothe malt before mashing.74 Evidence forthe brewing of March beer can be foundin the brewhouse records at Trinity andKing's Colleges at Cambridge.75 How-ever as March beer was brewed with theintention of consumption within a fewmonths, it would not have been used forthe college audit feast which was heldearlier in the year. This fact was perfectlydemonstrated by Richard Harris Barhamillustrated in his novel, A Lay of St.Dunstan: 'For I've said 'twas in June, andso late in the year the 'Trinity Audit Ale' isnot come-at-able, as I've found to mygreat grief when dining at that table'.76

Thomas Poole's recipe for strongOctober ale needed twenty-four bushelsof the very best malt to two hogsheads ofstrong ale, or a ratio of almost eightbushels to one barrel - this recipe alsomade two hogshead of common ale after-wards and every bushel of malt neededhalf a pound of hops.77 Poole's recipenoted that, if it was intended to keep thebeer more than one year,78 one or twopounds of new hops should be added toeach hogshead; the new hops should bemixed with some of the boiled hops andadded to the cask; the old hops helpedthe new to sink. This beer would beperfect in three years but would keep wellfor up to twelve.79 There was a long-standing tradition of snobbery assignedto old ale, presumably because to make

it very strong, more ingredients time andfuel were used, therefore making the costconsiderably higher.80 Even by the1580s, William Harrison recorded that thebeer drunk at noblemen's tables wasusually a year old, or even two.81

After racking, October ale was to be 'leftquiet' in the cask until the followingspring, by which time it had probably'fined' itself.82 At this time, as the airtemperature rose, it would start to fer-ment again, in which case the vent holehad to be opened and left open allsummer. The secondary fermentationusually stopped a week beforeMichaelmas. By this time the beer wouldbe, 'very fine, strong, mellow, well-tasted,and wholesome'.83 It could be drunkeither from the cask or bottled, though itwas usual to drink two-thirds from thecask and then bottle the remainder whenone year old. The bottles should then beleft to stand another year.84

The Chancellor Ale of Queen'sCollege, Oxford

Although the recipes for several Octoberales are available in several brewingmanuals, we are extremely fortunate tohave precise information regarding themodus operandi for brewing 'ChancellorAle' used at formal Feasts in theCollege.85 The brewing process wasexplained by J.F. Hunt, brewer of 56years service to Queen's College Oxford,using technology, methodology andequipment that had not changed funda-


mentally in over four hundred years.86 Heexplained the operation in 1927, shortlybefore the brewery's closure, to H. LloydHind, himself a much respected profes-sional brewing biochemist and brewingauthor at the time.87

Once a year, in October,88 a brew of 2½barrels was made.89 It was made in thecustomary way, except that the liquor runoff from the first mash was used as theliquor for the second mash, which wasalso given a fresh charge of malt. Thiswas produced from the first worts fromthe mash tun using 50 bushels of malt,and boiled for three hours with 20 lb ofhops, which were afterwards reboiledwith College ale (itself a potent 6.6%ABV). It was fermented in a small vesseland afterwards transferred into the cellarcasks, from which it was later run into theupright cask, a 'Butt' (Fig.1), to be kept fora year before it was broached,90 eventu-

ally giving a very high alcoholic strengthof 10.71% ABV.91

Moving on briefly to the production of(October) Audit Ale at Cambridge. By the1670s, four types of alcoholic drink werebrewed (and consumed) at TrinityCollege, namely, 'March' beer, 'Audit' ale,'Strong' beer and Small beer.92 The'Audit' beer produced was casked for atleast a year before being consumed.Only 3.7% of production was devoted tobrewing the specialist Audit ale, as it wasintended to be consumed by the Fellowsof the College only.93

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge alsoproduced an extremely potent ale knownas 'Strong'94 which sold at the very highprice of £2.4s.0d.95 per barrel within theCollege - little wonder that the Collegegained the reputation as being 'known forits ale and little else'.96

Note: the above cited examples were nota regular occurrence, for most Oxbridgecolleges purchased their audit ale fromcommercial brewers in preference to pro-ducing it themselves.97 The special aleserved at the Audit Feast in the Oxbridgecolleges was rarely brewed by them.There were numerous reasons for this:Firstly, not all colleges actually ownedtheir own breweries, so for those, all beerhad to be purchased. However, even thecolleges who had brewing facilitiesavailable and who brewed their ownstrong and table beers usually purchasedtheir special ale used at the audit fromlocal brewers - there were several good


Figure 1. Beer Cellar at Queen's College,Oxford. The upright cask for storingChancellor Ale is visible in the top right-handcorner. (H. Lloyd Hind, Brewers' Journal (15Nov., 1927), p. 592)

pragmatic and economic reasons for this:Due to the ale being double fermented,specialist brewers and techniques wereneeded to produce it, especially withproblems arising from temperature controland contamination in its production. As italso used additional ingredients (normallydouble or even triple amounts of malt andhops than used in table beer) it wouldprove extremely expensive if the brewprocess went wrong. Further, as audit alewas stored for at least a year or often sev-eral, before being broached, extra spacewould need to be provided that may nothave been available and as the contentswere expensive, the audit ale would needto be kept very secure.98 Thus the col-leges lifted this burden of responsibility bypurchasing from local specialist brew-eries. For example, Queens' College atCambridge, brewed their own 'strong' and'small beers' but not the very potent aleuse at the Audit Feast,99 however TrinityCollege did brew their own strong andsmall beers, as well as March and Auditale until 1880 when the brewhouseclosed.100

Descriptions of Audit Ale

A description of the flavour, strength andresulting physiological effects and symp-toms associated with consuming audit aleare fortunately available from numerousauthors: During the 1927 investigation ofQueen's College brewhouse operation, H.Lloyd Hind also had the opportunity totaste the College's ale; 'The Chancellorale examined was three years old and in

bottle. Its flavour, though acid, was won-derfully vinous and pleasant, the aciditybeing hidden by the buffering colloids ofthe beer. It was further described as'bright and threw a deposit of secondaryyeast, with scarcely any bacteria' … 'TheChancellor Ale was bright and poured likePort wine'.101 This is in line with PamelaSambrook's research where shedescribes that in the eighteenth century,very strong drink such as October ale wasalways highly hopped, being bright, bitterand medium to pale in colour.102

Further references to Audit Ale are avail-able. When Richard Grant White,103 theAmerican author and Shakespeareanscholar, was visiting England in the early1880s he was invited to luncheon by oneof his friends at his rooms in TrinityCollege, Cambridge. This was the firsttime Grant had tasted the famed 'Trinityaudit ale' of which he was most comple-mentary, and left us an excellent accountof the drink at that time. He found that,'such a product of malt and hops hadnever passed my lips before', furtherdescribing its qualities through the use ofnumerous similes;

It was mighty ... as smooth as oil, sweet asmilk, clear as amber, and strong as brandy …as clear as crystal and had a mingled richnessand delicacy of flavour as superior to that ofthe best brewage I had ever before as that ofChateau Yquem is to ordinary Sauterne.104

Similarly, the audit ale brewed at All SoulsCollege, Oxford was, 'as soft as barley-water but of great strength'.105


Spiced Audit Ale

Audit ale was normally consumed on itsown, however, at some Cambridge col-leges at least, was occasionally mixedwith spices to produce Cup, Bishop andCardinal. Dr Ebenezer Cobham Brewer(1810-1897), compiler of Brewer'sDictionary of Phrase and Fable,106

recalled when he was up at Trinity Hall,Cambridge,107 reading for a degree inLaw in 1832-6:

When I was at college, Cup was spiced auditale; Bishop was ‘cup’ with wine (properly claretor burgundy) added; Càrdinal was ‘cup’ withbrandy added. All were served with a hedge-hog [i.e. a whole lemon or orange bristling withcloves] floating in the midst. Each guest hadhis own glass or cup filled by a ladle from thecommon bowl (a large silver one).

The Strong Ale Phenomenon and AleGlasses

There was a long-standing tradition ofsnobbery assigned to old ale, presum-ably because to make it very strong,more ingredients, time and fuel wereused, therefore making the cost consider-ably higher - thus making affordable toonly the rich.108 As early as the 1580s,William Harrison recorded that the beerdrunk at noblemen's tables was usually ayear old, or even two.109 However, theconsumption of ale at the dinner table ofthe wealthy became extremely popular inthe early years of the eighteenth century,when there developed a fashion for

extremely strong ale. As a result of theMethuen Treaty of 1705, duty on Frenchclaret and champagne was much higherthan on Portuguese wines - with theresult that the former became even rarerluxuries than before. The less refinedPortuguese wines were less palatable tomany; the gap in the market being filled inpart by a new fashion for extremelystrong ale.110 Throughout this time andlater, England was periodically at warwith France and it was often seen theduty of the population, usually from theupper classes, to drink ale rather thanClaret as a patriotic gesture.

A new elegant design of drinking vesselwas also developed to accompany thepotent ale. Consuming an ale with analcoholic strength of up to 11% ABV bythe pint would of course result in thedrinker becoming extremely drunk veryquickly. Therefore, ale glasses becameslender and petite, with a capacity ofthree or four fluid ounces and were oftendecorated with wheel-engravings oftwisting hops and ears of barley todenote their contents (Fig. 2).111 Thefashion for this powerful drink was per-haps one of the reasons why many pri-vate brewhouses were built in the eigh-teenth century, especially in countryhouses, as proposed by Sambrook.112

This may well have provided the impetusfor Corpus Christi College at Cambridgeto build a new brewhouse; the Collegewere providing not only weaker beers forthe staple needs of their members, butalso for the production of a prestigiousdrink to replace wine or claret for Fellows


and their guests.113 Point of note: withinthe Oxbridge colleges, small silver gob-lets tended to be the preferred drinkingvessel for audit ale informally.114 At theAudit Feast, however, ceremonial tradi-tion dictated that the drink was passedaround from the double-handled silver'loving cup'.115

Audit Ale mentioned in Verse andModern Literature

Needless to say, with the pervasive con-sumption of strong beer at such a highprofile institution as Cambridge University,it attracted the attention of many socialcommentators, who had much to proclaimon the subject. Jonathan Swift, the famedauthor of Gulliver's Travels gently lam-

pooned that 'more than one or two per-sons of high rank declare they couldlearn nothing more at Oxford orCambridge than to drink ale'.116

The reputation of extremely strong beerin the colleges seems to be the inspira-tion for much prose too, amongst itsown members. An early example andpossibly one of the most famous alesongs appeared in 1566. The attributedauthor of the Elizabethan farce GammerGurton's Needle, originally written for theentertainment of students at Cambridge,was John Still, Master of Trinity College,Cambridge, 1577-1593, and later Bishopof Bath and Wells.117

The Ale Song from Gammer Gurton'sNeedle from Act ii follows thus:

I cannot eat but little meat,My stomach is not good;But sure I think that I can drinkWith him that wears a hood.I stuff my skyn so full within Of jolly good ale and olde.

Refrain

Back and side go bare, go bare, Both foote and hande go colde; But, Belly, God send thee good Ale enoughe, Whether it be newe or olde.I am so wrapped, and thoroughly lapped ofjolly good ale and old !118

The reference to 'jolly good ale and olde'may quite possibly relate to Trinity auditale or its predecessor at the College.119


Figure 2. Dwarf Ale Glass wrythen flutedc. 1750: height = 110mm dia = 60mm.Note: the relevant inscription of hopsand barley indicating its usage (fromauthor's personal collection).

Other prose from Cambridge colleges120

regarding very strong ale which was usedon special Festive occasions (includingthe audit feast), comes to us from StJohn's College. Written under the pseu-donym of 'Omega', and no doubt pennedby a college undergraduate, the odebelow appeared in the Gentleman'sMagazine and later in The Eagle, theCollege's own journal.121 Originally writ-ten in Latin, the transcript below derivesfrom The John Bull Magazine andLiterary Recorder of 1824.122

Sapphic Verses in Praise of Johnian Ale

To the Draught of Ceres123

To the Butler of St John's

Butler, bring me the stuff to quell sad cares! -May the draught of Ceres be before me to relieve my heart of grim depression.

Hasten tame this thirstWith this (now my sweetheart's away) lift up

my grieving heart124 - alas,Ceres' drink is a gift three times medicinal for

my cares.

Hurray! You smile! And may he lift up thegolden nectar as he hurries,

And like a river flowing the beaker's froth rushes like cunning tar on the lips.

You see how the shining liquid gleams like anenviable vice

The companion goes merrily, who shares thefun with which

Venus and Cupid spike their darts.

Oh you feast which provides enjoyment,Goddess who deserves the worship of all.

You, bountiful Ceres, give sweet relief to mewhen I'm in love.125

When I drink these noble juices I'll envy noItalians,

When I drink these juices neither will I envythe prestige of French grapes.

When I grunt, lurking in the Johnian sty, and write with thirsty lips -

May I drink these juices and lift cups friendlyto the Muses.

'OMEGA'

The above poem merits further analysisfor there are many poignant points men-tioned within; it indicates a reasonabledescription of Johnian Ale,126 a strongale served especially at the Audit Feast,brewed at the period. Phrases such as'the golden nectar', 'sweet relief' and 'cun-ning tar' merit further analysis. The term,'nectar' may be a play on words equatingthe beer to 'Ambrosia' or the 'Nectar ofthe Gods' but almost certainly refer to thevery sweet taste of the beer. This wouldbe consistent with all strong beers of 8%ABV and above in strength, oftendescribed as 'barley wines' in modernparlance. In order to achieve a high levelof alcohol the brew needs to contain amuch greater percentage of sugars(maltose), for it is these sugars that areconverted into alcohols by the yeast inthe brewing process. Hence all verystrong ales have a sweet overtone in


flavour. High sugar content often meansthat the ale has a higher viscosity thanweaker ales, thus the author's descriptionof 'cunning tar' being used, though aslight exaggeration makes a validpoint.127 Finally, he makes reference tothe 'Johnian Ale' being held in highregard than all other drinks, by describingit as 'Noble juice' and being superior towine from Italy and France, in the lines,'I'll envy no Italians when I drink thesejuices neither will I envy the prestige ofFrench grapes'.

The association with swine (i.e. grunt,sty) in the last verse of the poem alludesto the fact that members of St John'sCollege, Cambridge held the epithet of'Johnian Hogs', a title which still remainsto this day. The allusion to swine mayalso be reasoned as a parody or pun, forpigs were often caricatured in sketchesas drunkards and it was also extremelycommon for swine to be housed next tothe brewhouse because a natural by-product of brewing were the spent bar-ley/hops, known as 'draff' or simply as'Grains' in the college account books.128

These provided an excellent source ofnourishment and were especially used tofatten-up pigs quickly or for a winter food-stuff and supplement.

Aside from prose, the ale used at theaudit feast was often praised as subjectof comment in general literature: EdwardMarlborough FitzGerald (1809-1883) theEnglish writer and poet129 who was acontemporary of former Poet LaureateAlfred Lord Tennyson at Trinity College,

Cambridge, wrote to him later in lifeenquiring how he might obtain Trinityaudit ale he being an alumnus of theCollege who still might have connectionsthere.130

Trinity ale's fame may well have beenbrought to the for by John Bickerdyke,the author of the Victorian classic, TheCuriosities of Ale and Beer, when hegave high praise indeed: 'Trinity Audit isas Superior to All Other Mortal Brews as'Chateaux Lafitte' is to 'Vin Ordinaire'.131

A relative of Wyn W.R. Williams M.A. ofEmmanuel College was at CambridgeUniversity (Trinity College), before him,commented that 'Audit Ale was thebeverage he loved best', and adorned itwith high praise indeed as 'any addition-al honour could be conferred upon thefar-famed beer'.132

We are also assured that LordMacaulay,133 the nineteenth-century his-torian, poet and Whig politician, heldaudit ale in high esteem for in a requestof 1852 he wrote 'I should be muchobliged to you for that excellent audit ale',and further commented on his meal anddrink with fervour, 'the dinner was wellcooked; the audit ale perfect', with thegreater complement toward the ale.134

Charles Le Grice the recipient of such agift and evidently thought highly of it,using such descriptions as 'this draughtto ecstacy' in his self evidently titled work,Sonnet On Receiving A Present of TrinityAudit Ale.135


In Richard Harris Barham's, A Lay of St.Dunstan,136 there is obvious disappoint-ment for the drinker as they exclaim,

To be sure the best beerOf all did not appearFor I've said 'twas in June, and so late in theyearThe 'Trinity Audit Ale' is not come-at-able,As I've found to my great grief when dining atthat table.

J.M.F. Wright arrived at Trinity College,Cambridge in 1817, a mathematicsscholar and later, author. He wasamongst the first-class and other prize-men competing for a Fellowship and wasliterally given a taste of things to come bybeing allowed to drink audit ale. In hisbiography, he recalls ‘This use of theword “thirst” made me drink an extrabumper of 'Audit' that very day at dinner’and described it as the 'amber-flowingaudit'.137

Potency of Audit Ale

That the beer was often praised can begleaned from the above comments, itspopularity was also no doubt due to itsexclusivity and unusually high alcoholicstrength which was also often remarkedupon.

At Queen's College, Oxford, the'Chancellor Ale', was so potent that theDean would only grant an order for a pintof this liquor, and this was the largestquantity ever allowed at a time, and com-

mented further that it was 'so strong thattwo wineglassfuls will intoxicate mostpeople'.138

At Cambridge, in 1861, another Trinityalumnus, Sir George Trevelyan, (father ofG.M. Trevelyan, long-serving Master andhistorian of that same college) wroteHorace at the University of Athens, a top-ical parody drama in verse, originally writ-ten for acting at the famous 'A.D.C'. Oneline describes the perfidious qualities ofhis Trinity Audit Ale, 'Though you betreacherous as audit', whereby thedrinker should under no circumstancesunderestimate its strength, to their peril.

William Vernon Harcourt,139 whilstProfessor of International Law, wrote aletter from Trinity College, Cambridge in1871 to Mary Anne Disraeli, ViscountessBeaconsfield and with it he sent her asupply of the celebrated Trinity 'auditale'.140 He had previously told her inconversation of the wonderful qualities ofthis beverage, and promised to send hera sample, though due to its strength, hedoubted whether 'any but a Cambridgeman could drink it with impunity'.141 Littlewonder the ale was also described 'asstrong as brandy' by a college guest.142

Afterwards, Disraeli told him that she hadhad such an affinity for 'Trinity audit' that'a glass of this ale was almost the lastthing that passed her lips before shedied'.143

Returning to Oxford, Henry WilliamMacRosty, later President of the RoyalStatistical Society (1940-41), described


Professor Francis Edgeworth, the highlyinfluential figure in the development ofneo-classical economics and Fellow ofAll Souls College, 'with a quaint humouras in pressing on his guest the auditale of his College with warnings of itspotency'.144

Symptoms

Aside from the initial euphoric feelingfrom intoxication, there also came thenegative aspects associated with such apotent drink and its unpleasant physicalside-effects and symptoms on the bodywhich also was also much remarkedupon. Again from All Souls College,Oxford, the war poet Robert Graves,recalls in his autobiography, the unfortu-nate incident of 'a prince who once camedown to Oxford to open a new museumand lunched at the College before theceremony; apparently the mildness of theaudit ale deceived him - he took it forlager - and had to be taken back to thestation in a cab with the blinds drawn'.145

When Wyn W.R. Williams, M.A. ofEmmanuel College, Cambridge visited arich relative during the Long Vacation of1854, he recorded his, 'first intimateacquaintance with thy Audit Ale', having'never tasted it' in print. He drank severalglasses until 'the bottle of Audit Ale per-fectly empty'. However, regrettably, henot being use to the potency, sufferedhallucinations and believed his night-lightcandle was talking to him! - When heattempted to extinguish the candle whilst

smoking his cigar, he believed the candleanswered "Don't snuff me, snuff yourself,or that beastly, thing in your mouth".Unsurprisingly he had an extremely rest-less night's sleep and the next morningsuffered from a major hangover and'looked to-day as if he had been cut out ofa dead horse, and was only fit for soda-water and sorrow'.146

Even into the twentieth-century, the lateSir Richard Doll, Regius Professor ofMedicine at Oxford University 1969-79,and distinguished medical epidemiolo-gist, enjoyed explaining how in 1931,had it not been for three pints of TrinityAudit Ale, (at 8% ABV) on the nightbefore the last paper in the OpenScholarship, he might have been aMathematician.147 However, he failed theexam and switched to a career inMedicine.148 He quipped in later life, 'Thebeer I had that night was the best drink Iever had'.149

Trinity College Fellows' Audit AleAllowance

By far the most famous of audit ales wasthat of Trinity College, Cambridge. Thiswas partly as a consequence of it beingnamed specifically 'Audit Ale' from anearly date, (as opposed to 'ChancellorAle' or 'Strong Ale' et cetera used at theAudit Feast).150 Aside from TrinityCollege being one of the largest andmost prominent of the colleges atCambridge, a further explanation relatesto the fact that from the early nineteenth


century, Fellows of the College weregiven as an additional privilege of theirstatus, an allowance of six dozen bottlesa year.151 Many gave part of this entitle-ment of 'Trinity Audit Ale' to close friendsand family as an informal but extremelyprestigious gift at Christmas time. Thishad the effect of giving Trinity Audit muchwider prominence outside the collegeenvirons than any other college audit ale,in a time before audit ales were producedcommercially. This entitlement remainedin existence from 1817-1890 until the clo-sure of the College's own brewhouse.152

Throughout this period, one finds thiswas often remarked upon in TrinityFellows' diaries and other recipients ofthis prized Ale.153

Lord Macaulay, the nineteenth-centuryWhig politician, as a Fellow held manyprivileges at Trinity College, Cambridgeincluding the audit ale allowance. His biog-rapher, George Otto Trevelyan, wrote ofaspirations concerning a Fellowship atTrinity himself, 'I might eventually hope toreach a position which would give me threehundred pounds a year, a stable for myhorse, six dozen of audit ale everyChristmas, a loaf and two pats of butterevery morning, and a good dinner for noth-ing'.154 Later, in 1831, Lord Macaulaydelighted in recalling the time when, aftercheering on the fierce debate for twelve orfifteen hours together, he would walk homeby daylight to his chambers, and make hissupper on a cheese which was a presentfrom one of his Wiltshire constituents, and'a glass of the audit ale which remindedhim that he was still a Fellow of Trinity'.155

There are numerous other examples tobe found which reveal the gift of auditale was received: In a letter dated 7th

January 1829, Thomas Turton, bishop ofEly, thanked William Whewell (then aFellow, and later Master of Trinity from1841) for the 'Trinity Audit Ale'.156

Through the lines below, from his Linesfor a Christmas Card,157 the author,Hilaire Belloc fully encapsulated theesprit de Noël.

May all good fellows that here agreeDrink Audit Ale in heaven with me,158

And may all my enemies go to hell!Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!May all my enemies go to hell!Noel! Noel!

These may well have been inspiredafter receiving a bottle of audit ale atChristmas from a generous Trinity Fellow,and also has association with audit beingdrank on Festive occasions.

Further, the Trinity Fellow, Sir FrancisGalton, F.R.S., in October 1840 revealedthat, 'matters which gave him inexpressibledelight' were that he 'could once again orderaudit ale and dine by right at the Fellows'table'.159 However, in another letter, he alsodisclosed an apology for the non-arrival ofthis most welcome gift at Christmas, whichwas eagerly anticipated: 'I have ordered 3dozen [bottles] of audit ale …, but am afraidit will not be ready for Xmas'.160

In fact, another Trinity man, the ReverendCharles Le Grice actually went to the


trouble of writing dedicated verse on thesubject, so apparent was his delight ontaking delivery of it on Christmas 1846.

Sonnet On Receiving A Present of TrinityAudit Ale

One drop I seek not from the sparkling springOf Helicon, since, from the cloister'd hoardOf Trinity, full in my cup is pouredThe mantling Audit - Friendship's Offering.Fancy! I woo thee not, thou magic Queen;Since, waken'd by this draught to ecstacy,Rapt mem'ry shews to the unclouded eyeLife's early drama, with each by-gone scene.A world not of the world:- the gay-throng'd hallLight with bright faces;-and the shady grove,Where they of College-heart, deep musing, rove;The social converse, 'till the Vesper bell;-The Student's nook, chamber of anxious fears;-Enough, enough, - my cup is dew'd withtears.161

On a curious but none less interestingendnote, there was even a court case,contesting the will of a somewhat senile,long-served Fellow of Trinity College whomistakenly thought when he was alwaysdrinking his privileged Trinity Audit Ale,long into his retirement. Even when hewas served with common table beer byhis family, he would apparently reply, ‘thisis very good ale, this is our audit ale, weget it from Trinity College, Cambridge’.162

Synonymy

Trinity Audit Ale seems to have becomeso famous amongst certain literary circles

during the mid-late nineteenth centurythat it appears to have become synony-mous with college life itself - one oftenfinds, for example, that where there ismention of the College, this is oftenaccompanied by a corresponding men-tion of its famous ale too. Thus, almostinevitably, the enigmatic drink also foundits way into other popular fact and fiction. One finds, Trinity audit ale is mentionedin a popular novel of 1911. The NewMachiavelli, written by the famous authorH.G. Wells, whilst the main charactervisits Trinity College, 'the highlights of thepicture came chiefly as reflections fromhis chequered blue mugs full of audit ale',and Wells further sets the scene: 'We saton oak chairs, except the four or five whocrowded on a capacious settle, we dranka lot of beer and were often fuddled, andoccasionally quite drunk …'163

In Frederic William Farrar's novel, JulianHome: a tale of college life (Edinburgh,1860), though a work of fiction, is mostcertainly based on first-hand experienceas Farrar was an alumnus of TrinityCollege, Cambridge.164 In the abovework, he describes the Audit Feast, 'fromthe goose on the table, and the audit alewhich was circling in the loving cup …that it was a feast.’

Similarly, a jeu d'esprit or light humorouswork entitled the The Vision of StBrahamus was extensively circulatedamong the undergraduates at Cambridgefollowing a debate at the Union Society in1844, and though not the main subject ofthe skit, nevertheless makes allusion to


the potent brew - the author being aTrinity man of course.165

He took a little Audit ale For his poor stomach's sake; He sat him[self] down in his arm-chair, And strove to keep awake.

Likewise, when the classic English actorO.B. Clarence, recounted visiting hisbrother in wartime Cambridge, heobserved that breakfasts at that timewere 'the chief form of hospitality' …'where beer was served - 'possibly' TrinityAudit'.166

It seems that consuming the potentTrinity audit ale almost became a defin-ing characteristic of a well-roundedCambridge University scholar! Indeed,William Vernon Harcourt, the politicianand Professor of International Law167

doubted whether 'any but a Cambridgeman could drink it with impunity'.168

This perception can be further supportedby Wyn W.R. Williams, when up atCambridge as a freshman of EmmanuelCollege. He later recollected the timewhen a distant relative of his with whomhe was staying, offered him audit ale as anight-cap, stating, 'He would order a bot-tle [of audit ale] to be sent to my roomthat night, and if I did not sleep soundlywith such head-gear, 'I was undeservingof the name of Cantab'.169

Similarly, in much fictional writing wherethe theme is centred of Oxford Universitycollege life, the reader often will come

across mention of 'audit ale' at somepoint. For example, the novelist GrahamGreene, in his short story When Greekmeets Greek,170 which is set in the fic-tional Oxford college of St Ambrose. Heintroduces the main character, whomakes numerous references to thepotent brew, through such lines as 'MrFennick ... raising his glass of audit ale'and 'Mr Fennick who had fortified him-self for the journey with a good deal ofaudit ale'.171 This used by Greene, to nodoubt to give the story setting an air ofauthenticity.

Audit Ale: the Archetype of Englishness

As ale and beer was the staple alcoholicbeverage for centuries, audit ale seemsto have also been was used by somewriters to define it as the best example ofwhat is archetypal English. The influentialEnglish journalist and author, G.K.Chesterton, in The New Jerusalem pub-lished in 1920, gave his views onIslamism following a trip to the HolyLand. Whilst describing the very best ofEuropean cuisine, he alluded to 'Frenchcookery, Italian confectionery', and morepertinent to this article 'English audit ale'.

Cambridge Bottled Audit Ales

Audit ale was originally supplied to theCambridge colleges by some colleges,themselves, or specialist commercialbrewers on draught initially in barrels orhogsheads.172 After the First World War


many Cambridge colleges were beingsupplied not with draught, but bottledaudit ale.173 Whether bottled audit alewas supplied to the colleges prior to thatdate is uncertain as evidence is scant.However, what is certain is that from1817 Trinity College audit ale were pro-viding bottled audit ale to its Fellows asdetailed in an account book is in exis-tence in Trinity College Archives.174

During the early 1920s, E. Lacon and Co.of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (or morefamiliarly known simply as Lacon's) wonthe contract to supply audit ale to theCambridge colleges. From existing bottleevidence, it is known that they suppliedClare College,175 St Catharine's, St.John's, Trinity176 and Trinity Hall177 aswell as Jesus College for whom they alsosupplied a 'College Ale'.178

In 1926 the Steward of Corpus ChristiCollege at Cambridge, also revived theold practice of having its own Audit Alespecially brewed for the College (byLacon's). He was soon able to report thatthe fame of this brew had spread farbeyond Cambridge and among otherplaces it was stocked in cask and bottleat the Carlton Club in London.179

Another Cambridge brewer, Bailey &Tebbutt Ltd is also known to have sup-plied St. John's and Jesus Colleges withaudit ales during this time.180

During the latter years of the 1920s181 andthrough to the following decade Dale'sBrewery Ltd of Cambridge182 supplied TrinityCollege Audit Ale as bottles are known to bein existence up to 1934.183 Lacon's alsocontinued to Jesus College in the 1930s.


Note: the above bottle labels are photo-copies of the originals which were printedin colour (refer St John's College AuditAle label below)

Just prior to the Second World War,'Trinity Audit Ale', bottled by Lacon's at8% ABV, in Champagne quarts with spe-cial labels, was also exported to NewYork by an enterprising Cambridgegraduate in 1937, just four years afterProhibition had ended, and the market

rife for a legal, powerful, high qualitybeer. It was advertised and marketedthrough mail order with characteristicAmerican hyperbole of the period,including a somewhat potted history ofaudit ale, much of which was completelyerroneous:

The Trinity Audit Ale Association, Ltd. of thiscity invites Cambridge and Oxford men in theU.S. to participate in the American quota of


the Trinity Audit Ale, a brew which has beenswigged at Trinity College for some six hun-dred years. Among the ‘Lord Patrons of theAle’ are the Duke of Windsor and theArchbishop of Canterbury.184

The ale was very much marketed on itsexclusivity;

TRINITY AUDIT ALE will remain a PrivateBrew here just as it is in Cambridge - sold byinvitation and not available in public bars orstores. To get this brew, you either have to bea Cambridge or an Oxford man or be nominat-ed by one. The price is fifteen dollars for acase of twelve bottles.185

The advertisement was further endorsedby Edward Taplin, Esq, of Great Yarmouth,

'Leading Authority on Audit Ale' - he beingthe head brewer of Lacon's brewery dur-ing this period.186 However, this enter-prise was short-lived, perhaps due of itspurchasing exclusivity and its highexpense. At a time when standard bottledbeer was 4d (less than 2p) a pint in theUK on average, 'Trinity Audit Ale' sold atalmost 10s. a pint. Even a premium beercannot command such a premium price,despite taking into account the costs ofimporting it.

Later, during the 1950s, Dale's Breweryis also known to have supplied PembrokeCollege with bottled audit ale. Similarly,the Suffolk brewers Greene King187

served Trinity College.188 Another localbrewery, Wells & Winch of Biggleswadeare also known to have supplied St


Trinity ‘Audit’ Ale bottled in 1934 byDale’s Brewery, Cambridge (author’spersonal collection).

John’s College with Audit Ale at this period.Contemporaneously, Hudson's PampisfordBrewery also brewed audits for Trinity, St.John's and King's Colleges throughout thefifties at various times. Greene King alsoprovided audit ale to Trinity, late as 1965for their annual Audit Feast anniversary atthe College foundation.189

Oxford College Bottled Audit Ales

The now defunct Morrell's Oxfordbrewery,190 traded with many of the localcolleges for well over a century and theirclose links were apparent with such brandsas Oxford Blue, Graduate and Varsity.Before the turn of the nineteenth centurythey are also known to have suppliedmany Oxford colleges with audit ale ondraught. In fact, the brewery had anotherconnection with audit ale in that Morrell'shead brewer was the last to brew thefamous Chancellor Ale just prior to the

Second World War‚ in the ancient brew-house of Queen's College.191

As at the Cambridge colleges, someOxford University colleges, too, were sup-plied with bottled audit ale. Owing to theirlocation they were supplied by anothercommercial brewery, that of Mitchell's andButlers'.192 During the 1960s, bottles andlabels are in existence for Audit Ale forChrist Church College, Magdalen, Exeter,New College, Trinity, and WadhamCollege, all produced at their Cape HillBrewery, Smethwick, Birmingham whichshow evidence of this trade. At the periodthey also provided, not an 'Audit Ale', butan 'Old Ale' for All Souls College,Oxford.193 However, the audit ale pro-duced for University and Lincoln Collegewas bottled (and possibly brewed?) atBurton-on-Trent, by Bass, Ratcliff andGretton Ltd following Mitchell's and Butlers'merger in 1961, as apparent from thebottle label (refer Fig below).194



Oxon labels, individually endorsed for different colleges, (not a generic label) and some havecollege coats of arm inline with the Cambridge University bottles, though different suppliers.

Commercial bottled 'Audit Ales'

By the 1950s, the college audit ales hadlong-gained the reputation of being syn-onymous with very potent drink and manycommercial brewers imitated these toproduce varieties of their own which wereaimed not at the colleges, but primarilyavailable for general public consumption.It must also be remembered that by thistime there was very little market withinthe Cambridge colleges as many hadstopped serving audit ale or even can-celled the Audit Feast altogether.195 It isapparent that they were brewed by thosewho had previously supplied theCambridge colleges, such as Dales,Lacon's and Greene King.196 Dale'sBrewery for example, produced'Cambridge Audit Ale' for general con-sumption 1951-54.197

E. Lacon of Great Yarmouth, who hadpreviously supplied many the Cambridgecolleges since the nineteen-twenties,198

also brewed their 'Audit Ale' in 6 fluid

ounce 'nip' crown-top bottles, for publicconsumption up to the late 1960s.199

Lacon's also produced a 'Special AuditAle' in larger, corked and wired cham-pagne style one pint bottles, in limitedquantities200 (refer Figs opposite).

Similarly, other existing breweriana usedby the Suffolk brewers Greene King201

from this period, in the form of beer labelsand beer-mats, show evidence that theyproduced a strong bottled 'Audit Ale'.

The connection with their former collegeclients is also apparent on the labellingseen below, with depicts Queens' College'Mathematical Bridge', a major iconicsymbol of Cambridge University.

On a further note of interest, in 1961, theSuffolk-based Greene King merged withbrewers Wells & Winch of Biggleswade,becoming 'Greene King (Biggleswade)' in1963, thus providing an ante-date for the


label bottom right.202 It is apparent thatthis was also a period of transition in thecompany's marketing strategy by re-branding the bottled potent brew from'Audit Ale' into 'Audit Barley Wine' by1980.203

Elsewhere, from the 1950s, the BlackEagle Brewery in Westerham (Kent),204

who made many award-winning ales forthe London market,205 produced on asmall scale, bottled audit ale, at a timewhen there were but three breweries in

England producing this potent brew.206

Similar to the production at Trinity andQueen's colleges, the audit ale wasmatured in casks for one month then inbottles for nine.207

Westerham audit ale is known to havehad some extremely eminent customers,for it was supplied to Clarence House forthe beginning of the oyster season.208

According to receipts held in the ChurchillArchives, Westerham ales including auditwere being delivered locally to Chartwell


Manor, the residence of Sir WinstonChurchill, a mere three miles from thebrewery.209 Whether it was orderedspecifically for Sir Winston himself is notknown, however, he certainly was wellknown for his imbibing, especially atmealtimes (for example, A.L. Rowse'sdescription of his lunchtime visit toChartwell).210 After a lifetime of drinkingChurchill is known to have concluded that'I have taken more out of alcohol thanalcohol has taken out of me'.211

Other commercial breweries such asCharrington and Co. Ltd of the AnchorBrewery, Mile End, London, also pro-duced their 'Toby Audit Ale'. Evidentlybrewed in small batches, it seems itsmain function was to present to factoryworkers on special occasions such asretirement. The bottle below in believedto date from around 1957.

Another former brewery, Friary Meux,also attempted to gain a share of theselect niche market for a beer of anextremely high alcoholic content.Breweriana, including beer bottle labels,beer mats along with ale jugs,212 to fur-ther advertise the brand are in existenceand must date from the early nineteen-sixties (1961-64), when the companytraded under that name.213

Much earlier, the brewers, R.W. Borley, ofShaftesbury, Dorset are almost unique inthat they were producing commerciallyaudit ale for consumption to the generalpublic at an early date, albeit on a small


scale and limited to the customers of thenearby, Grosvenor Hotel.214 This wasduring the 1920s, at a time when theGreat Yarmouth brewers, Lacon's, pro-duced bottled audit ale that was exclu-sively for consumption within theCambridge colleges.

Finally, although no breweriana in theform of bottles or their correspondinglabels are extant, one frequently comesacross beer bottle openers at specialistauctions, made for the former Stamford,Lincolnshire brewers of Lowe, Son &Cobbold Ltd. These are inscribed with thebrewers name on the obverse side, andmore pertinently 'audit ale' on the reverseside, thereby suggesting the purposewas indeed to remove the metal crowncaps from the bottles of the above-men-tioned potent drink which they must haveproduced. The Registered Number onthe bottle opener below (RE 702661)dates to late 1923.215

Conclusion

From at least the thirteenth century untilwell into the twentieth, audit ale was usedat the Audit Feast, celebrated at the


annual audit of accounts, where thehighest quality food was served, comple-mented with suitably quality, highstrength ale.216 Although best known inconnection with the Oxbridge colleges,especially Trinity College, Cambridge,the celebration of the Audit Feast can betraced from numerous origins. TheChristian Year was originally divided inreligious festivals or Feasts which werecelebrated with food and drink.217 As atthe colleges (whose wealth came fromtenants218 rents from endowed lands),the annual audit of the accounts (followedby an audit feast with suitable accom-paniment of audit ale) was carried outelsewhere, with similar circumstancessuch as on monastic, and great estatesassociated with feudal societies andseigniorial obligation. It was not unusualto chose a special ale on such occasions,as beer was often used to concludebusiness transactions (especially withinthe environment of the alehouse), andAles, festivals involving the profits frombeer sales used to raise funds for build-ing maintenance, audit ale was alsodrank at the audit feast at one of the twoessential annual celebrations associatedwith medieval trade guilds. The potent aleused at the audit feasts was almostcertainly connected with the 'Ale Glass'phenomenon, conducted by patrioticgentry during the eighteenth century andlater.

As a consequence of the decline ofmonastic estates, guilds and break-up ofthe great landed manorial estates of thegentry in general, it seems that only the

Oxbridge colleges still consumed auditale at their Feasts. By 1914 the authorand journalist, G.K. Chesterton thoughtAudit Ale along with Mead as 'merecuriosities'.219 Following the closure oftheir brewhouses, the Oxbridge colleges,during the 1920-30s were suppliedbriefly with audit ale in bottled form bycommercial breweries (of which manysurvive) for this small niche market.220

Audit Ale may therefore also be seen asthe precursor to the modern extremelypotent 'old ales' and 'coronation ales'brewed and bottled for special celebra-tions.221 By 1950s, only three Englishbreweries still made audit ale.222

Nevertheless, during the 1960s, therewas a revival of 'audit ale' whose namehad become synonymous with strongale, and was successfully marketed by anumber of large commercial breweries,as 'audit' and later as 'barley wine' forpublic consumption.223 However, it isdoubtful if these later versions of bottledaudit ale produced commercially baredmuch resemblance to their original col-lege namesakes.

The bottles of audit ale produced for thecolleges during the 1920-30s, which wereproduced in dark green, quart orwine/champagne bottles with wired on orwaxed corks, with labels with crestsembossed to individual named col-leges224 (and often dated by vintage),225

contrasted considerably to the later com-mercial versions dating from the 1950sonwards that were produced in nip or half-pint bottles, with crown metal caps andcontaining generic, anonymous labels.


For reasons primary of economy,226 allbut a handful of colleges still celebratethe Audit Feast.227 Amongst thoseremaining are Churchill College,228

Trinity,229 Sidney Sussex and JesusCollege in Cambridge,230 and eventhough this Feast is still celebrated with ahigh degree of formality and ceremonyafforded to such a tradition, alas theprized audit ale is no longer served.231

However, on an extremely positive end-note, the Blackfriars Brewery recentlyrevived Audit Ale for the 2007 GreatYarmouth Beer Festival using the originalLacon's recipe at a potent 8% ABV!232

This article is intended in no way to be asystematic or exhaustive search on thesubject of 'Audit Ales', however if it willstimulate further research and interest itspurpose will have been fulfilled.

Appendix

Known Audit Ale bottles & labels in existence(in alphabetical order):233

BAILEY & TEBBUTT LTD (Cambridge, Cambs.)St. John's College Audit Ale 1920sJesus College Audit Ale 1920s

BASS, RATCLIFF & GRETTON (Burton - on -Trent) 1960sAudit Ale for All Souls College 1960sAudit Ale for Brasenose CollegeAudit Ale for Christ Church CollegeAudit Ale for Lincoln CollegeAudit Ale for Magdalen College

Audit Ale for New CollegeAudit Ale for Nuffield CollegeAudit Ale for Oriel CollegeAudit Ale for Queen's CollegeAudit Ale for Trinity CollegeAudit Ale for University CollegeAudit Ale for Wadham CollegeAudit Ale for Balliol College 1960s

BLACK EAGLE BREWERY (Westerham, Kent)Westerham Audit Ale 1950s

R.W. BORLEY. (Shaftesbury, Dorset)Audit Ale 1920s

CHARRINGTON & CO LTD (London)Toby Audit Ale 1957

DALES BREWERY LTD. (Cambridge, Cambs.)Audit Ale 1927Audit Ale, Trinity College 1930sTrinity College Audit Ale 1932Pembroke College Audit Ale 1950s

FRIARY MEUX (London & Guildford, Surrey)Friary Audit Ale 1961-4

GREENE KING & CO LTD. (Bury St.Edmunds, Suffolk)Audit Ale for Trinity College 1950sAudit Ale 1960sAudit Barley Wine 1960sTrinity College Audit Ale 1965Audit Ale for Lord Rothschild 1984

HUDSON'S PAMPISFORD BREWERY(Pampisford, Cambs.)Trinity College Audit Ale 1950sSt. John's College Audit Ale 1950sKing's College Audit Ale 1950s


E. LACON & CO. LTD (Great Yarmouth,Norfolk) Clare College Audit Ale 1920sClare College, College Ale 1920sCorpus Christi Audit Ale 1920sJesus College Ale 1920sJesus College Audit Ale 1920sSt Catherine's College Audit Ale 1920sSt Johns College Audit Ale 1920sTrinity Audit Ale 1920sTrinity College Audit Ale 1920sTrinity Hall Audit Ale 1920sAudit Ale, Trinity College 1928Jesus College Ale 1930sAudit Ale 1966Special Audit Ale 1967

LOWE, SON & COBBOLD LTD (Stamford,Lincs.)Audit Ale 1920s

MITCHELLS & BUTLERS LTD. (Smethwick,Birmingham)Audit Ale for Christ Church College 1960sAudit Ale for Exeter College 1960sAudit Ale for Magdalen College 1960sAudit Ale for New College 1960sAudit Ale for Trinity CollegeOld Ale for All Souls College, Oxford 1960sAudit Ale for Wadham College

WELLS & WINCH LTD. (Biggleswade, Beds.)St Johns College Cambridge Audit Ale 1950s

Notes and references

1. Monckton, H.A. (1966) A History ofEnglish Ale and Beer. Bodley Head: London;see also Corran, H.S. (1975) History ofBrewing. David and Charles: Newton Abbot.Mike Peterson's short article naturally coversonly bottled ale, 'Audit Ales in England -Bottled Beer for the intelligentsia' in What'sBottling (2000). Whilst Ian Peaty gives littleattention in his publication, You brew goodale; a history of small scale brewing (1997)Sutton: Stroud.

2. McKay, M. (ed.) (2005) HutchinsonEncyclopaedia Hodder Arnold: London.

3. www.wander.com.au/the+beer+buffs+bible.htm

4. http://www.brewplus.com/forum, 'Recipefor Mysterious "Audit Ale" from TrinityCollege, England?' 'They tended to be a mix-ture of standard ale with the addition of asmall amount of port'.

5. See Greene King 'audit barley wine' beermat for example, p. 43.

6. A Brace of Cantabs [Pseudonym] (1824)Gradus ad Cantabrigiam: or, New UniversityGuide to the Academical Customs, andColloquial, or Cant terms Peculiar to theUniversity of Cambridge. Observing Whereinit Differs from Oxford. John Hearne: London;'Audit stout' was in common parlance at thetime for what one calls 'Audit Ale' today; Note,not to be confused with the earlier edition ofA Pembrochian [Pseudonym] (1803) Gradusad Cantabrigiam: or, A Dictionary of Terms,Academical and Colloquial, or Cant, whichare used at the University of Cambridge.Thomas Maiden: London, in which where'audit ale' does not appear.

7. ibid.; Also cited in Hall, B.H. (1856) A


Collection of College Words and Customs.John Bartlett: Cambridge. p. 14.

8. The official inspection of the accountsdrawn up at the end of a financial year, cele-brated in colleges by an audit feast and, verycommonly the consumption of speciallybrewed audit ale. Queens' College,Cambridge Archives, QCA: QC bk.4 January1565 - 'Item. For Spens for beere at ye audit'-£0.11s.8d.; Many colleges were supplied upto 1950s with custom made bottled 'AuditAudit' by local breweries such as Dale's andLacon's.

9. Dividend - in former times, a subdivisionof the college's excess income, paid to eachFellow at the end of each year, to supplementhis stipend. In fact even the dividend wasmade up primarily of profits from 'internaleconomy' such as from ale and bread sold inthe college, with ale significantly higher. refer.John A.R. Compton-Davey, 'Brewing in theCambridge Colleges 1550-1750', PhD thesis,(in progress) University of Cambridge, whoseresearch from Magdalene College illustratesthis fact.

10. See King's Hall accounts for example;Cobban, A.B. (2005) The King's Hall Withinthe University of Cambridge in the LaterMiddle Ages. Cambridge: C.U.P.

11. refer also fn. 1812. During the fifteenth century; Pantin,

W.A. (1972) Oxford Life in Oxford Archives.Oxford: O.U.P.

13. ibid; see also King's College CambridgeArchives KCAR/5/4/1/1 - Tenants' Dinner of1905.

14. Emmanuel College, Cambridge Archive:Box 1/F1 30 Oct 1676: Similarly, a lease toJames Day, gent., of a tenement for 40 yearsfrom Michaelmas 1784 at an annual rent of

20s and one very good fat rabbit at 'audittime' - Corpus Christi College CambridgeArchives, GBR/2938/CCCC09/12/27.

15. It seems that the tenants preferred it toany wine that could be given them; RichardGrant White, 'Cambridge Ale', New YorkTimes, 22 Aug 1880

16. Many business transactions were oftendiscussed in the alehouse which was themeeting place of many trades that is apparentfrom the subject of many alehouse ballads -e.g. How Mault doth deal with Every One,Pepys Ballads, vol.i, f.472

17. French, R.V. (1884) Nineteen Centuriesof Drink in England: A History. NationalTemperance Publications: London. p. 224,quoting Jorevin de Rochefort, AntiquarianRepertory (1672), iv, p. 607.

18. Feast - An annual religious festival, oftena saint's day, on which fairs were also usuallyheld, http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/gaz/glos-sary.html

19. With the advent of Protestantism-andmost especially the Puritan variant thereof-feasts, seasons, and other joviality generallybecame frowned-upon. Still, remnants of thefeasts and seasons remained. Lady Day wasthe first day of the year in the British Empireuntil 1752, when the Gregorian calendar wasfinally adopted. Similarly, the fiscal year in theUnited Kingdom begins on April 6, becausethat day in the Gregorian calendar corre-sponds to Lady Day in the old Julian calen-dar.

20. The inclusion of 'goodfellows' mightimply an allusion to an Ale house balladwhere 'good fellowship' i.e. good companion-ship was a common theme.

21. He would have been aware of 'Audit ale'as he was a graduate at Balliol College,


Oxford c.1895.22. This may also have been inspired after

receiving a bottle of audit ale as Christmasgift usually to be used over the Christmasperiod when Trinity Fellows visited family andfriends. refer p.31 Trinity College Fellows'Audit Ale Allowance.

23. refer fn.624. The comparisons with College tenants

are also apparent here.25. A great flourishing Benedictine abbey for

over 500 years until 1539 when the Abbeywas dissolved by Henry VIII.

26. Vinogradoff, P. (1924) 'Feudalism',Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 3.Cambridge: C.U.P. pp. 458-484.

27. Or at least the basic ingredients forbrewing, either barley or malt. This also hadparallels within the Oxbridge Colleges fromthe late medieval period. In 1576 an Act (Stat.18 Eliz. c. 6) had been passed to grant whatbecame known as 'Rent Malt' or 'Corn Rent',whereby tenants were bound to pay theequivalent of one third of their annual rent tothe College in a quantity of malt or wheat.

28. This can be correlated to the seigniorialcustoms associated with the Abbey of Ramseyin P. Vinogradoff, op. cit., pp. 458-484.

29. Bulwer-Lytton, E. (1858) What Will HeDo with It. ?: London, vol. x, p. 278: As a for-mer undergraduate of Trinity College, andTrinity Hall at Cambridge he would thus havebeen well-acquainted with the audit feast incollege.

30. Refer also fn.631. Peacock, T.L. (1831) Crotchet Castle. T.

Hookham: London, chap.17; refer alsoMitchell, L.G. (2005) The Whig World: 1760-1837. Continuum International: London.p.161.

32. Farjeon, E. (1921) Martin Pippin in theApple Orchard. Collins: London; EleanorFarjeon (February 13, 1881 - June 5, 1965)

33. Thirkell, A.M. (1954) What Did It Mean?(Hamish Hamilton: London. p. 7; AngelaMargaret Thirkell (January 30, 1890 - January29, 1961).

34. Chambers, J.D. & Mingay, G.E. (1982)The Agricultural Revolution 1750-1850.Batsford: London.

35. Thompson, E.P. (1991) The Making ofthe English Working Class. Victor Gollancz:London; On the other hand, revisionist histori-ans have argued that this is an oversimplifi-cation, unsupported by the facts. 'We shouldbe careful not to ascribe to (enclosure) devel-opments that were the consequence of amuch broader and more complex process ofhistorical change'. 'The impact of eighteenthand nineteenth century enclosure has beengrossly exagerated' Chambers, J.D. &Mingay, G.E. op.cit.

36. Hein, W.S. et. al. (1850) 'Tenant-Right',The Law Review and Quarterly Journal ofBritish and Foreign Jurisprudence, vol. xi,p.193.

37. Lord Byron, Age of Bronze. Published inApril 1823. As an alumnus of Trinity College,Cambridge he would also have been wellacquainted with audit ale.

38. Audit Room, an appendage to a cathe-dral, for the transaction of its business.

39. Welsby, P.A. & Yates, N. (1996) Faithand Fabric: A History of Rochester Cathedral,604-1994. Boydell & Brewer: London. p. 71.

40. King, P. (1977) 'Materials for a FinancialHistory of the Cistercian Order to 1486',Historical Research 50 (121), pp. 20-29;French, K.L. (1998) Sixteenth CenturyJournal, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Summer), pp. 399-


425; Similarly, during the mid nineteenth cen-tury, aside from the Audit Feast itself, itseems All-Saints Day was also celebratedwith audit ale at Trinity College, Cambridge.Farrar, F.W. (1860) Julian Home: a tale of col-lege life. A & C Black: Edinburgh.

41. 'Houses of Augustinian canons: Abbeyof Haughmond', A History of the County ofShropshire: Victoria County History, Volume 2(1973), pp. 62-70.

42. Dugdale, W. (1846) MonasticonAnglicanum, (eds.) Caley, J., Ellis, H. andBandinel, B., ?: London. 8 vols., vol. vi, f.112.

43. Lehmberg, S.E. (1996) CathedralsUnder Siege: Cathedrals in English Society,1600-1700. Penn State Press: UniversityPark. p. 2

44. see also letter dated 07 January 1829,Thomas Turton, Bishop of Ely, thankedWilliam Whewell (then a Fellow, and laterMaster of Trinity from 1841) for the 'TrinityAudit Ale', Trinity College Library Cambridge:GBR/0016/Add.Ms.a.213/166.

45. Goodwin, Ely Gossip, 1880, p. 5; 'City ofEly: Monastic buildings and palace', A Historyof the County of Cambridge and the Isle ofEly: Victoria County History Volume 4: City ofEly; Ely, N. and S. Witchford and WisbechHundreds (2002), pp. 77-82.

46. Interestingly, the etymology of the word'bridal' comes not from the -al suffix Englishdeveloped up from Latin, but rather from theOld English brýd-ealo: bride-ale or wedding-ale.

47. i.e. God speed the plough, And give usgood ale enow ... Be merry and glade,Withgood ale was this work made.

48. The hostmen of Newcastle controlledmuch of the mining and transport of coal.

49. Gregory, J. & Berry, H.M. (2004)

Creating and Consuming Culture in North-East England, 1660-1830. Ashgate: London.pp. 64-5.

50. Dendy, F.W. (ed.) (1901) Extracts FromThe Records Of The Company Of Hostmenof Newcastle - Upon-Tyne. Surtees Society,105, pp. liii, 145.

51. Gregory, J. & Berry, H.M. (2004) op. cit.p. 65.

52. ibid.53. Hutton, R. (1996) The Stations of the

Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain.Oxford: O.U.P. p. 111; Other Parish Guildsconcerning female members are also knownto have held audit feasts, refer French, K.L.(1998) 'Maidens' Lights and Wives' Stores:Women's Parish Guilds in Late MedievalEngland', Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 29,No. 2 (Summer), pp. 399-425.

54. Dividend - in former times, a subdivisionof the college's excess income, paid to eachFellow at the end of each year, to supplementhis stipend. In fact even the dividend wasmade up primarily of profits of internal econo-my' such as from Beer and bread sold in thecollege with beer significantly higher; referJohn Compton-Davey op. cit. whose researchfrom Magdalene College clearly illustratesthis fact.

55. Probably from the onset.56. Queen's College, Oxford also produced

a very potent ale in their own brewhouse, foruse at the Audit Feast, which was named'Chancellor's Ale', in honour of a former alum-nus. Other colleges at Oxford such as atMerton College produced 'Archdeacon' fortheir Audit Feast. The exception being atTrinity College, Cambridge where a specifi-cally named 'Audit Ale' was brewed and con-sumed.


57. There were many pragmatic reasons forthis, refer p.19.

58. The College Bursar at this period.59. Kilderkin = 18 gallons or half a barrel;

Queens' College Cambridge Archives (QCA):Journale QC. bk.4.

60. Hogshead = 54 gallons or one and ahalf barrels; QCA: Journale bk.5 June 1604 -.The 'strong bere' was ordered because thecollege brewhouse was being refurbished,and not operative at this time.

61. 'the audit ale which was circling in theloving cup that it was a feast', Farrar, F.W.(1860) op. cit.

62. Queens' College, Cambridge ArchivesQCA: Journale QC bk.4.

63. ibid.64. Provisions or victuals bought (as distin-

guished from, and usually more delicate thanthose of home production)

65. Feb 1604 (bill for January) QCA: bk.5;for a modern example see Corpus ChristiCollege Audit Dinner 22 January 1913, wherethe menu reveals that caviar was the starter,Bury, op.cit., p.128.

66. QCA: Journale QC. bk 6 January 169667. refer fn 8068. At the Audit Dinner attended in 1831 by

Samuel Wilberforce, afterwards Bishop, hisdiary entry recorded that: 'A good AuditDinner: 23 people drank 11 bottles of wine,28 quarts of beer, 2-1/2 of spirits, and 12bowls of punch; and would have drunk twiceas much if not restrained. None, we hope,drunk!',Samuel Wilberforce (7 September1805 - 19 July 1873) was an English bishopin the Church of England, third son of WilliamWilberforce; Johnson, W.S. (ed.) (2004)George William Russell, Collections andRecollections. ?: London.

69. Robert Walsh (ed.) (1830) 'Weaton'sTravels in England', The American QuarterlyReview, vol. vii, March and June. p. 355.

70. Held on 01 December 2007.71. The Ceremony of Drinking from the

Loving Cup goes back to the assassination ofKing Edward the Martyr at Corfe Castle in978. The 17 year old Edward was invited byhis stepmother Elfrida to drink from a two-handled cup, leaving him defenceless as hermen stabbed him to death. Elfrida's sonEthelred known to History as Ethelred theUnready, thereby ascended to the throne ofEngland. Ever since, ceremonial drinking hasbeen accompanied by an elaborate ritual ofprecaution. The Person about to drink bowsto his neighbour and the latter removes thecover of the cup with his right hand (the dag-ger hand). At the same time the drinkingguest is guarded against attack from behindby his other neighbour, who stands facingaway from the drinker until his friend hashanded on the cup; Another tradition uniqueto the Oxbridge colleges which is centredaround ale, is the 'Sconce' - a drinking forfeitimposed after a breach of table etiquette atHall.

72. Refer also Thomas Love Peacock,Crotchet Castle, (London, 1831) chap 17where the 'old October' intended for the auditfeast had been 'drunk up';

73. October Ale would have 6 months ofoptimum ambient temperature, whereasMarch Ale only 3. March beer as the nameimplies was a double strength beer brewed ata certain time of the year, and for the abovereason was produced for consumption withina few months.

74. Markham, G. (1623) The EnglishHuswife. Lackson: ? p. 123.


75. Trinity College Cambridge Archives:Pandoxators' Book 3 - 'March' beer was val-ued at 18s. per barrel, twice that of standardbeer; 1673 - King's College CambridgeArchives: Audit Book 1667 - 1677, p. 313.

76. 'A Lay of St. Dunstan' (1837) is part ofthe Ingoldsby Legends, a collection of myths,legends, ghost stories and poetry supposedlywritten by Thomas Ingoldsby of TappingtonManor, which is actually a pen-name ofRichard Harris Barham, who enteredBrasenose College, Oxford in 1807, and thuswell aware of audit ale. Brasenose was alsofamous for its 'Ale verses'.

77. Poole, T. (1783) A Treatise on StrongBeer, Ale etc., Fully Explained the Art ofBrewing. ?: London. p. 55.

78. As was also the case at Queen'sCollege, Oxford.

79. ibid.80. This also throws light on the high-status

demographic make-up of the OxbridgeColleges at this period.

81. Harrison, W. [1587] (1877 - 81)Description of England in Shakespeare'sYouth. ed. Furnivall, F.J.N. Trubner: London,ii, p. 150; see also Ale Glasses p. 22.

82. i.e. 'left quiet' - undisturbed; 'fined' -cleared;. Watkins, G. (1760) CompleatEnglish Brewer, ?: London. p. 108.

83. ibid.84. ibid; This was the case with Trinity

College's Audit ale in Cambridge. Refer alsofn.92.

85. Including the Audit Feast and to cele-brate such special occasions as a sporting'Blue' being awarded.

86. Brewing began at Queen's CollegeOxford, 28 October 1690 (Bursars' Book1689-90) and the same original basic brewing

equipment was used until its demise in 1939;Lloyd Hind, H. (1927) 'Brewing at Queen'sCollege, Oxford: An Ancient Craft', Brewers'Journal, 15 November, pp. 591-92.

87. Lloyd Hind, H. (1934) Brewing Scienceand Practice, 2 vols. Chapman & Hall:London.

88. Dale's Trinity audit label states 'October1934' time of bottling because it was Octoberale

89. Their strong October ale was namedChancellor Ale in honour of a former alumnusof the College who attained that high officewithin the University.

90. Elsewhere a figure of two years is used,'Chancellor Ale - made from 16 bushels ofmalt to the barrel kept in oak bell-shapedcasks, and it is never tapped until it is twoyears old' ref ?

91. ABV. - alcohol by volume; The originalstrengths of the beers in the 1927 analyticalreport are given in 'Alcohol by Weight' (ABW)which is no longer used, except in the UnitedStates. Therefore to gain a modern compari-son of alcoholic strength, a conversion toAlcohol by Volume (ABV) has been calculat-ed (one must divide by the density of alcoholwhich is 0.794.). Therefore correlated figuresgive the alcoholic strength of the ChancellorAle as 10.71% ABV (Chancellor Ale is shownas 8.46 (ABW) /0.79 = 10.71% ABV).Mr J. F. Hunt, Queen's College Head Brewer,described the process in Lloyd Hind, H.(1927) 'Brewing at Queen's College, Oxford:An Ancient Craft', Brewers' Journal,November 15, pp.591-92; A 'Butt' had acapacity of 108 gallons, that is equivalent to 2hogsheads or 3 barrels.

92. Trinity College Cambridge Archives,Pandoxators' Book 2 1679


93. ibid; Total beer production for 179 was921 barrels per annum which included 34barrels of Audit Ale.

94. As opposed to 'Ale' which sold at £113s. per barrel (equivalent to others college's'Strong', and 'Beer' (table beer)

95. Trinity College charged 18s. per barrelfor theirs; Although economies of scale andsubsidies must be taken into consideration asTrinity College brewhouse had a muchgreater annual production; ibid., this extrastrength drink was only produced and con-sumed between 1714 - 1737.

96. 'A Trinity-man' [J.M.F. Wright]. (1827)Alma mater, or, Seven years at the Universityof Cambridge. Black, Young and Young:London. p. 109.

97. Additionally, not all colleges celebratedthe Audit Feast per se (for example,Emmanuel College, Cambridge) and hencehad no use for audit ale.

98. Brewhouse inventories and accountsalways contain locks and keys. i.e. TrinityCollege paid 1s. 6d 'for a key for theBrewhouse Gate' TCA: Pandoxators' Book 1,Shelf 8: 1681 - Extraordinaryes of theBrewhouse.

99. refer Queens' College Cambridge,Journale, (monthly expenses).QC Books 1 -8, 1484 - 1835.

100. Brewing actually ceased in TrinityCollege, Cambridge c. 1880 when it was con-sidered not to be economically viable any-more to continue following the new Beer Act.In 1880 Gladstone's Beer Act replaced theduty on malt by a tax on beer, which alsoapplied to privately brewed beer, on the basisof the rateable value of the premises occu-pied. Premises with a rateable value of over£15, paid 6 shillings plus a duty on the beer

produced which was levied at the same rateas commercial beer, making large-scaledomestic brewing of beer totally unprofitable.Therefore, by the turn of the twentieth centuryall Cambridge colleges were being suppliedwith beer, including audit ale, from commer-cial brewers as none any longer had theirown brewing facilities.

101. Lloyd Hind, H. (1927) 'Brewing atQueen's College, Oxford: An Ancient Craft',Brewers' Journal, 15 November. pp. 591-92.

102. Sambrook, P. (1996) Country HouseBrewing. Hambledon Continuum: London. p.114.

103. Richard Grant White (1822 - 1885)born in New York, Shakespearean scholarand author.

104. White, R.G. (1880) 'Cambridge Ale',New York Times. 22 August.

105. Graves, R. (1929) Good-Bye to AllThat: An Autobiography. Jonathan Cape:London. p. 369; refer also description of'Johnian Ale' p. 26.

106. Dr Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810 -1897), compiler of Brewer's Dictionary ofPhrase and Fable, or more simply asBrewer's, a Victorian reference work of 1898.

107. As Trinity Hall never owned a brew-house of their own, it is probable that theyprocured a quality of audit ale from nearbyTrinity College, with whom they had closeconnections.

108. Also throws light on the demographicstructure - the high status society of Oxbridgemembers at this period.

109. Harrison, W. [1587] (1877-81) op. cit. ii,p.150.

110. refer fn 108111. These are still often mistaken for wine

glasses amongst antique dealers.


112. Sambrook, P. (1996) op. cit. p. 198.113. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge who

'fitted up' their brewhouse in 1714, producedan extremely potent 'Ale' from 1714 - 1737which cost twice the price of 'Strong' ale.(Corpus Christi College Brewhouse Account1714 - 1792) This was an unusual time tobuild a new brewhouse as the University pop-ulation had been steadily falling for someyears. In fact other college brewhouses, suchas Emmanuel and Jesus College, evenclosed down their operation at this period.

114. As Robert Graves, the famous WWIwar-poet recalled on his visits to T.E.Lawrence (of 'Arabia' fame) who was electedto a seven-year Research Fellowship at AllSouls' College, Oxon in 1919; 'he usedalways to send his scout for a silver goblet ofaudit ale for him', Graves, R. (1929) op. cit. p.369.

115. refer pp. 14 - 15116. Swift, J. (1906) 'An Essay On Modern

Education', Gulliver's Travels and OtherWorks by Jonathan Swift. Morley, H. (ed.),E.P. Dutton: New York. pp. 363 - 70; This wasnot only confined to Cambridge for he is alsoknown to have commented on the overindul-gent drinking customs after a dinner at thehouse of Lord Smart, French, R.V. (1884)Nineteen Centuries of Drink in England: AHistory. National Temperance PublicationDepot: London. pp. 263 - 4.

117. This play has recently been also attrib-uted to William Stevenson of Christ's College,Cambridge c. 1562.

118. Farmer, J.S. (ed.) (1906) GammerGurton's Needle, (c.1562). Gibbings & CoEarly English Drama Society: London.

119. John Still as Master of Trinity College,Cambridge would also have been well

acquainted with the extra potent audit ale. Hewas also described as 'Lord of the Audit' in anexport advertisement for Trinity Audit Ale in1937, refer p. 38. For further information oncollege brew houses refer J. A. R. Compton-Davey, 'Brewing in the Cambridge Colleges1550-1750' PhD thesis (in progress),University of Cambridge.

120. Oxford University also had a similartradition; the Brasenose Ale Verses being atypical example. On Shrove Tuesday, theCollege Butler annually recited verses writtenby junior members in Hall, in honour of theBrasenose Ale, a special brew. The versesoften contained topical references to currentevents and members of College in residence.

121. Gentleman's Magazine, March 1786, p.251; The Eagle, 22, (1908), p. 118 (translatedfrom the original Latin).

122. The John Bull Magazine and LiteraryRecorder, vol.1 (London, 1824), pp.102 - 3.

123. In Roman mythology, Ceres was thegoddess of agriculture, of corn and crops.

124. He is drinking to relieve the pain ofbeing absent from his loved one.

125. ibid. One must remember that at thetime that the poem was composed,Cambridge University was essentially an all-male environment.

126. Johnian - member of St John's College,Cambridge.

127. refer also to description of similarpotent ales, p. 21.

128. 'Grains' are mentioned in Queens'College, Cambridge Brewhouse Accountsfrom 1710 onwards - UA QC242 a, b, c; A'hog yard' was also situated inside the brew-house yard at Emmanuel College,Cambridge, ECA: Box1/F1.

129. Best known as the poet of the first and


most famous English translation of TheRubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

130. Bell, L. (1920) 'Swinburne's Beer', NewYork Times, 23 November.

131. The author of The Curiosities of Aleand Beer, one of the two most significantanthologies of beer lore ever written. Thisbench mark work was first published in 1889.John Bickerdyke was, in fact, the pen nameof three individuals who assembled a stag-gering collection of songs, poems, literatureand lore of beer. Charles Cook, J.G. Fennel,and an unknown English cleric collaboratedto produce this work, last reprinted in 1965.

132. Williams, W.W.R. (1854) 'Audit Ale', inAinsworth's Magazine: A Miscellany ofRomance, General Literature, & Art, vol. xxv,Hugh Cunningham: London. pp. 226 - 29.

133. Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1stBaron Macaulay, (1800 - 1859).

134. Trevelyan, G.O. (1876) Life and Lettersof Lord Macaulay. Longmans, Green, andCo.: London.

135. Sonnet On Receiving A Present ofTrinity Audit Ale, reproduced in Kellet, E.E.(1911) A Book of Cambridge Verse.Cambridge: C.U.P. p. 223; The original maybe viewed in the British Library, system num-ber 002118438, shelfmark 11647,e,1.(169).

136. 'A Lay of St. Dunstan' (1837) is part ofthe Ingoldsby Legends

137. 'A Trinity-man' [J.M.F. Wright]. (1827)op. cit. vol.1, p. 109 ('A Trinity-man' was thepseudonym of John Martin Frederick Wright);Alma Mater, vol 2 , p.26; In fact, in this vol-ume, Trinity audit ale is alluded to numeroustimes. He was also the commentator of theslight at Corpus Christi College see p. 19.

138. 'College Ale' - New York Times, 25January 1891; at 10.71 ABV this can be well

believed.139. William Vernon Harcourt, 1827 - 1904

(politician), was appointed Whewell Professorof International Law at the University ofCambridge in 1869. (as a Fellow of TrinityCollege, he was thus entitled to 6 dozen bot-tles of audit ale per year.)

140. Wife of Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime-Minister to Queen Victoria.

141. Refer also fn. 168.142. White, R.G. (1880) op. cit.143. Sykes, J. (2003) Mary Anne Disraeli Or

the Story of Viscountess Beaconsfield.Kessinger: London. p. 226.

144. Francis Ysidro Edgeworth (1845 -1926) Professor of Political Economy andFellow of All Souls College, Oxford. HenryWilliam Macrosty, review author of JohnMaynard Keynes, Essays in Biography(London, 1933), in Journal of the RoyalStatistical Society, Vol. 96, No. 3. (1933), p.514; see also Robert Graves contemporaryaccount fn. 145 below.

145. Graves, R. (1929) op. cit., p. 369.146. Williams, W.W.R. (1854) op. cit., pp.

226 - 29.147. Produced at this time at Dale's

Brewery Ltd of Cambridge; refer fig.4, p. 38.148. Trinity could only offer him an

'Exhibition' rather than an esteemed'Scholarship' and was so taken aback that hedecided to study Medicine at King' CollegeLondon instead, Daily Telegraph, 25 July2005.

149. Obituary column, Daily Telegraph 25July 2005.

150. From at least 1690s - TCA:Pandoxators' Book 3 1690-91.

151. i.e. 72 quart bottles, which equates tohalf a barrel or one kilderkin.


152. There is a specific Audit Ale accountbook covering the years 1817 - 1870 in TrinityCollege, Cambridge Archives.

153. refer also John Mitchell Kemble (1807 -1857), English scholar and historian, educat-ed at Trinity College, and thus well acquaint-ed with its traditions, when he alluded to'have an Audit ale of their own, as well as ourworthy Fellows of Trinity College Cambridge'Kemble, J. M. (1849) The Saxons in England:A History of the English Commonwealth Tillthe Period of the Norman Conquest.Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans:London. p. 316.

154. Trevelyan, G.O. (1876) op. cit. Vol. I,1818 - 24, chapter 1 biography.

155. From 1830 - 32 Macaulay as aMember of Parliament; George OttoTrevelyan, Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay(London, 1876) - he was nephew ofMacaulay; Father of George MacaulayTrevelyan - Master of Trinity CollegeCambridge (1940 - 51).

156. Trinity College Library Cambridge:GBR/0016/Add.Ms.a.213/166; See also 'MrWaddington has sent Trinity audit ale', Janeand Penelope Monk to Charles James Monk,Christmas 01 January 1848 - Charles JamesMonk papers - GBR/0016/Monk - TrinityCollege Library, Cambridge.

157. Taken from Belloc's novel of travel, TheFour Men. (1912) Thomas Nelson and Sons:London.

158. He would have been aware of 'Auditaudit' as he was an undergraduate at BalliolCollege, Oxford.

159. Pearson, K. (1914 - 1930) The life, let-ters and labours of Francis Galton, 3 Vols.Cambridge: C.U.P., Vol 1, Chapter V, p. 140;He was Charles Darwin's half-cousin.

Although an undergraduate at Trinity in hisyouth, he was not elected to a Fellowship ofTrinity College, Cambridge until aged 80 in1902.

160. ibid. p.145.161. Le Grice, Charles Valentine, 'Sonnet on

receiving a present of Trinity Audit Ale' 1847,reproduced in Kellet, E.E. (1911) op. cit. p.223; The original may be viewed in the BritishLibrary, system number 002118438, shelf-mark 11647,e,1.(169).

162. Shelford, L. (1833) A Practical Treatiseon the Law Concerning Lunatics, Idiots, andPersons of Unsound Minds. S. Sweet andStevens & Sons: London. p. 644; Rev. H. H.,formerly a Fellow of Trinity College, a sup-posed lunatic. Leonard Shelford was a mem-ber of the Middle Temple Barrister at Law.

163. Wells, H.G. (1911) The NewMachiavelli. John Lane The The BodleyHead: London. p. 70.

164. Further confirmation can be found inthe frontispiece of this book which was actu-ally dedicated to three of his contemporariesat Trinity.

165. As Clement Mansfield Ingleby noted 'Itis hardly necessary to say that this skit wascomposed by a Trinity man'; Martim deAlbuquerque (ed.), 'Cambridge Jeux D'esprit',Notes and Queries: A Medium of Inter-Communication for Literary Men, Artists,Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc, vol. xii, (1855),p. 52.

166. Clarence, O.B. (1999) 'Touring theProvinces in Wartime', Theatical Adventures.referhttp://hilton.org.uk/obc.phtml?c=touring_the_provinces_in_wartime

167. See ref. 139.168. Sykes, J. (2003) op. cit. p. 226; refer


also fn. 141.169. Williams, W.W.R. (1854) op. cit. pp.

226 - 29.170. Greene, G. (1941) 'When Greek meets

Greek'. The Illustrated London NewsMagazine, Christmas Number (November).

171. ibid. 172. By 1890 the Star Brewery Co. Ltd of

Newmarket Road, Cambridge produced a'Star Audit Ale' which was probably suppliedto the colleges for their Feasts. It may havealso been supplied by members of the Peggfamily, who were brewers (W. E. Pegg, Bene'tStreet Brewery, Cambridge) and butlers toPeterhouse and claimed in their adverts thatthey brewed for the College including auditale. Similarly at Oxford, it is known thatMorrell's of Oxford produced a large amountof draught audit ales for the Oxford colleges,but no bottles are known to exist.

173. I am indebted to Mike Peterson'sexcellent database of bottled beers of theCommemorative Bottled Beer Collectors Listand the Association for British BreweryCollectables ( http://www.abbclist.info/)

174. Trinity College, Cambridge Archives,Audit Ale Book 1817-1870; As a Fellow ofTrinity College, a privilege was the allowanceof six dozen quart bottles (1 hogshead); Theale was brewed in the College brewhouse,however it is doubtful if they actually bottledit. This would have been carried out by alocal brewery.

175. They also supplied 'College Ale' toClare College during this period.

176. Trinity College's brewhouse hadceased operated c. 1890.

177. Walter Besant, the novelist and histori-an also makes early mention of 'the Audit ale,

old and strong', whilst describing one of thetypes of beer served at Christ's College in the1850s when he was an undergraduate,(1902) Autobiography of Sir Walter Besant.Hitchinson & Co.: London.

178. A bottle of Jesus Audit Ale supplied byLacon's is currently on display in CambridgeFolk Museum. At this time they also supplied'College Ale' to Jesus College. Earlier, we arealso informed that at a cricket match in 1888,between Cambridge University v C.I.Thornton's England XI, lobsters were servedat breakfast, 'washed down with Jesus auditale', Woods, S.M.J. (1925) MyReminiscences. Chapman and Hall: London.Whether this was in bottled form it is notknown.

179. op.cit. Bury, p. 150; No doubt upon therecommendation of a former Cambridgescholar who was also a member of the Club.The Carlton is the oldest of all theConservative Private clubs.

180. Panton Brewery, Panton Street,Cambridge.

181. Bottles from 1927 and 1928 are knownto exist in collections.

182. Gwydir Street, Cambridge; Although nolonger in existence, the wrought iron sign dis-playing 'Dale's Brewery' remains fixed to theroof of the building, indicating its earlier use.

183. Examples from 1927, 1928, 1932 and1934 are known. All had the same designlabel which varied only with the year and thecolour of the label. This would suggest thatbottles were probably produced for everyyear at least from 1927 to 1934, and probablyfor longer. (pers.comm. Mike Peterson).

184. see publicity leaflet below.185. 12 champagne pints $9.00 (£5.35), 24

champagne pints $17.00 (£10.12), 12 cham-


pagne quarts $15.00 (£8.93), 6 champagnequarts and 6 pints $12.00 (£7.15); White, E.B.(1937) The New Yorker, April 10, p. 13.

186. ibid. 'Trinity Audit is perfectly reliablefrom a keeping point of view. However long itis kept, neither the condition nor the flavourwill alter'.

187. Greene King & Sons. Ltd , WestgateBrewery, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.

188. Possibly honouring the previous com-mitments of breweries such as Bailey &Tebbutt who earlier provided college auditsand whom were taken over by Greene King.

189. Again possibly honouring Wells &Winch who supplied colleges (e.g. St John's)in turn, merged with the Suffolk brewersGreene King in 1961.

190. Closed in 1998, The Publican 18 June2002.

191. refer also p. 18.192. Cape Hill Brewery, Smethwick,

Birmingham.193. Up to the closure of the brewery in the

early 1920s 'Audit ale was brewed in the col-lege; it was as soft as barley-water but ofgreat strength.' Robert Graves, op.cit. p. 369;During this period, Professor FrancisEdgeworth, economist, often gave warningsof the audit ale's potency to his guests at hisCollege; Maynard Keynes, J. (1933) Essaysin Biography. Macmillan: London.

194. The bottled Audit Ale of UniversityCollege may even have been sipped by noneother that former U.S.A. President WilliamJefferson 'Bill' Clinton III, whilst studying on aRhodes scholarship during the late 1960s,recalled by a contemporary friend of his atthe College - whether he 'inhaled' or 'swal-lowed' is not known!, Old Fettesian, Number48, January, 2005.

195. e.g. at Corpus Christi College; Theimpetus for later, producing audit ale maywell have been in celebration of their pastcollege ties, and to give the surroundingCambridge townsfolk a flavour of the 'elusive'drink which no doubt many had heard of, butnot actually tasted. It must be rememberedthat many of the Cambridge town populationwere employed as staff within the colleges.

196. It is doubtful if the later versions of bot-tled audit ale produced commercially boremuch resemblance to their college name-sakes.

197. Note the distinctive label logo whichfeatured the main gate frontage of TrinityCollege whom Dale's supplied during late1920s and early 1930s. Other evidence onthe label is the use of the University andCambridge City Council crests belying theBrewery's connections.

198. refer p.37199. Only ceasing production during the

Second World War Years; A Lacon's Audit Alenip was also produced for the 1953Coronation, with a Coronation foil, but other-wise identical to the normal issue.

200. I would like to acknowledge MikePeterson for the following illustrations of auditale labels; Trinity Hall, St Catherine's College,Lincoln College Audit Ale and Lacon's SpecialAudit and Dale's Audit Ale bottles listedabove.

201. of Bury St Edmunds.202. The 'Biggleswade' title being dropped

in 1990 and brewery finally closed in 1997;Thus can be seen as continuing the traditionof Wells & Winch's brewery at Biggleswadewho earlier supplied audit ale to St JohnsCollege in the 1950s; Greene King also pro-duced a special audit ale for Lord Rothschild


in 1984; refer also Hellewell, C.E. (1984) 'TheHickleton Brew' (unpublished memoirs) p. 15for a special ale of 10.25 ABV brewed specifi-cally Lord Unwin, son of Lord Halifax.

203. Evolving, eventually, to the plain,'Barley Wine' label, dropping the 'audit'description completely. The biggest-sellingBarley Wine for years was Whitbread's 10.9%Gold Label, which is still available in bottlesand cans. Bass's No 1 Barley Wine (10.5%)is occasionally brewed in Burton-on-Trent,stored in cask for 12 months and made avail-able to CAMRA beer festivals.

204. The Black Eagle Brewery owed byBushell Watkins & Smith closed in 1965, andis now licensed as the 'Westerham BrewingCompany'.

205. Such was the success of The BlackEagle Brewery that in 1881 a branch linefrom Sevenoaks to Westerham was con-structed to carry beer to and from London. Bythe turn of the century the brewery was thelargest employer in Westerham.

206. This is further supported by aCanadian infantryman, who returned to post-war England to revisit the area where he wasformerly stationed during WW II; Mowat, F.(2006) Aftermath: Travels in a Post-WarWorld. Stackpole: London. p. 19.

207. ibid.208. Possibly for the personal consumption

of the late Queen Mother who was in resi-dence at the time?

209. Finest Hour 81:9 Winter 1992 - 3. Aquarterly publication published by TheChurchill Centre.

210. ibid.211. ibid.212. Produced by Wade Potteries Limited,

Burslem, Stoke - on - Trent. In 1989 Wade

Potteries PLC was renamed Wade CeramicsLimited (after being acquired by BeaufordPLC).

213. Meux's Brewery Co Ltd of TottenhamCourt Road in 1914 were taken over byFriary, Holroyd and Healy's Brewery Ltd ofGuildford in 1961 to form Friary Meux Ltdwhich fell to Ind Coope in 1964.

214. The principal coaching inn inShaftesbury since the eighteenth century.

215. Thus dating the opener between 1923and 1951 when the brewery ceased trading(1895-1951).

216. Brewed in October and kept for at leasta year, this superior strength, quality, tasteand its physiological effects on the humanbody were often alluded to literature. An alter-native reason proposed for the use of highstrength ale at the Audit Feast, especially inthe Oxbridge colleges, relates to them beingessentially very competitive all-male societiestill well into the twentieth century, where beingable to consume potent ale might be per-ceived as show of manliness, Shepard, A.J.(2003) Meanings of Manhood in EarlyModern England. O.U.P.: Oxford.217. e.g. Easter and Christmas (Feast of theNativity).

218. Tenants were given a drink of audit aleafter paying their annual rent.

219. Chesterton, G.K. (1914) The Flying Inn.Methuen: London. Chapter XVII.

220. Trinity Audit Ale was also an instantsuccess when exported to New York by aCambridge graduate in 1937.

221. Greene King & Co. Ltd brewed'Coronation Ale' in 1937 and 1953. Lacon'sAudit Ale was also produced in nips withcrown caps to celebrate the 1953 Coronation,with a special 'Coronation' motif foil covering


the crown cap.222. Mowat, F. (2006) ibid. p. 19.223. Additionally supplied many of the

Oxford colleges at this period; I am indebtedand thank Mike Peterson for the CompleteCommemorative Bottle Collectors List, pro-duced by the Association for British BreweryCollectables.

224. This was later imitated on Dale's andGreene King bottles. See

225. As apparent on Dale's Trinity Audit c1927 - 34, which display the relevant'October' bottling date.

226. e.g. at Corpus Christi College,Cambridge Audit Feast had been discontin-ued since 1931 (Bury, p. 163); It was seen bymany as an outmoded, extravagant, expen-sive, anachronistic feast; Selwyn College,Cambridge no longer celebrate an AuditFeast which is believed to have given up dur-ing the 1970s (pers. comm. Professor J.S.Morrill, Selwyn College, Cambridge).However, early evidence may be seen, for anAudit Feast menu dated 24 November 1936survives in St John's Library,Cambridge/Constable/4/15 - Papers ofWilliam George Constable.

227. This effected colleges' servants andtenants. Before 1908, it appears to have beenthe practice for the College to give its ser-vants a supper after the Audit Feast. This inturn was discontinued in 1914, each servantreceiving in placed of the dinner 4s. worth offood (e.g. chicken and plum pudding) fromthe College kitchen. (Bury p. 131; CorpusChristi College, Cambridge Chapter Book 13January 1914; The audit dinner was replaced

at some colleges with a Tenants Dinner suchas King's, and Provost's at Oxford.

228. It is one of the two key Feasts of theCollege and naturally a Formal event. AtChurchill College Audit Feast the Master rais-es a toast, first to 'The Queen' and then to'Sir Winston.' However this remains some-what of a paradox, as Churchill College wasonly founded in 1960, therefore are theyattempting to become part of the 'old estab-lished University' by reintroducing an old tra-dition?

229. Trinity College Cambridge Archives/Add.Ms.a /438 - Menu of the Audit Feast - 11December 1992.

230. Senior Bursar of Jesus CollegeCambridge, in 2006 'A consequence of thishas been the regular call by successive bur-sars for economies: whereby the annual'Audit Feast has been a popular target'http://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/college/history/estates.html Stephen Barton, 2007.

231. Churchill enigma, Churchill College,Cambridge still holds an annual Audit Feaston last day of November each year. It is oneof the two key Feasts of the College and nat-urally a Formal event by invitation only fromthe Master.

232. Held throughout the Bank Holidayweekend 25 - 8 May 2007; Given toBlackfriars owner Bill Russell by 84 year oldTerry Glasheen who worked for more than 30years at Lacon's; 'Revival of Audit Ale', GreatYarmouth Mercury, 19 April 2007.

233. Collated from the 'Millennium BottlesList' of the Association of Bottled BeerCollectors edited by Richard Lilley.


Documents

John A R Compton-Davey - Brewery Historybreweryhistory.com/journal/archive/128/Audit.pdf · holder, of a brewhouse at the rear of the College with its equipment for 11 years from