On a high mountain mesa in southern Peru, the ruins of a 1,000-year-old imperial brewery hold a secret: scattered across the floor among massive fermentation vats are ornate metal shawl pins worn exclusively by high-status, aristocratic women.
In ancient Mesopotamia, Sumerian hymns celebrated female tavern keepers, and in medieval England, over seventy-five percent of commercial ale traders were women known as brewsters. So how did a craft that began across the ancient world as the sacred, exclusive domain of women become, centuries later, an industrial trade that explicitly barred them from entering the room?
This episode examines the history, economics, and chemistry behind women and the brewer’s craft. From the legal doctrine of coverture and the arrival of hops to the true origin of the surname Brewster and the dismantling of popular witch myths, this explores how commercialization transformed a domestic art into a capital-intensive trade—and what that history left behind in the glass.
Full show notes, research sources, and transcript at thealchemistsbar.com.
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