Beverages & Drinks

Historic drinks of the table: ale, wine, mead, cordials, syrups, restorative drinks, non-alcoholic beverages, and other drinks served for refreshment, digestion, ceremony, or comfort.

What Did People Drink?

Historic beverages were more than simple thirst-quenchers. Drinks could mark hospitality, seasonality, celebration, fasting practice, medicine, digestion, or feast service. Ale, wine, mead, spiced wines, syrups, cordials, herbal drinks, dairy-based drinks, and restorative preparations all appear in historical kitchens.

Some drinks were meant for the table, some for the banquet, and some for health or household use. Medieval and early modern recipes often blur the line between beverage, medicine, syrup, cordial, and kitchen preparation, especially where herbs, spices, fruit, honey, vinegar, or wine are involved.

About this collection: This catalog gathers alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, including ale, wine, mead, spiced wines, syrups, cordials, herbal drinks, restorative beverages, dairy-based drinks, and other historical beverages. Sauces, pottages, sweets, and cooking liquids appear in their own collections unless the recipe clearly functions as a drink.

Catalog note: This is a living collection and part of an ongoing archive renovation project. Historical recipes on Give It Forth span many years of research, and older posts were sometimes labeled according to earlier systems or broader categories. As labels are reviewed and standardized, recipes that do not best fit this catalog may be moved to a more appropriate collection, while dishes that belong here may be added.

Recipe Catalog

Gathering recipes from the archive...