Hacker News Reader

Yea, but the author is in the present day and is using the terms beer and ale which are present day terms - not speaking a medieval language. They seem to think that beer and ale are different because of hop content- which isn’t true. To quote “The difference between medieval ale and beer was that beer also used hops as an ingredient.”

View on HN

detaro is correct. At the time, that was the way the words were used. Makes sense to me to use the historical language in this context. At any rate, I think it's pretty safe to say the author is not confused.

> medieval ale

So the difference between medieval ale and (present day)ale ? Or the difference between medieval ale and (present day) beer ? Is that what you think they mean?

At the time these historical recipes would have been brewed, folks referred to a beverage made with malted barley and yeast as "ale" and beverages made with malted barley, yeast and hops as "beer."

> In medieval England, ale was an alcoholic drink made from grain, water, and fermented with yeast. The difference between medieval ale and [medieval] beer was that [medieval] beer also used hops as an ingredient.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com