Description:
This unusually shaped object is an ale warmer used for heating up beer or ale in the fireplace. The warmer would be stuck cone side down into the heat at the top of the fire. It could have been stuck between a couple of logs. Perhaps the form worked best in a coal fire, but you could press them down into a deep pile of glowing ash from a log fire. In England and other beer-drinking countries warm ale was a popular winter drink when heated on its own or mulled with spice and sugar. Many people also thought ale was healthier drunk warm. And then there was a fondness for sweetened warm ale with nutmeg. If you added a measure of rum or brandy the mixture was called flip, and was popular on both sides of the Atlantic in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. An alternative to the cone-shaped ale warmer was the ale shoe. See HD 53.028 References to the ale warmer in literature do appear in Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, 1841 "Then," said Mr. Codlin, "fetch me a pint of warm ale..."...the landlord retired to draw the beer, and presently returning with it, applied himself to warm the same in a small tin vessel shaped funnel-wise, for the convenience of sticking it far down in the fire and getting at the bright places. This was soon done, and he handed it over to Mr. Codlin with that creamy froth upon the surface which is one of the happy circumstances attendant upon mulled malt." Large conical shaped piece of copper connected by means of rivets, with an attached conical shaped handle without a hole for nailing in a wooden handle (handle missing), interior of copper cone has a tin lining to prevent tainting the taste of beer or ale.
Subjects:
Copper Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2014.29.2 |
