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Ale

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"Let me guess. Ale, ale, ale and...oh, probably another ale?"
"That's my lass!"
―Arabella Smith and a sailor[src]

Ale was a type of beer brewed using a warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. The term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typically had a bittering agent to balance the malt and act as a preservative. Ale was originally bittered with gruit, a mixture of herbs or spices boiled in the wort before fermentation. Later, hops replaced gruit as the bittering agent.

History

"Blasted men, spillin' their ale."
―Arabella Smith[src]

Throughout the Age of Piracy, ale was served as a drink for pirates, sailors, and wenches in taverns and pubs all over the world. The earliest known use of the drink was during the adventures of Captain Nathaniel Hawk, circa 1630.[1] By the early 1700s, prior to young Jack Sparrow's quest for the Sword of Cortés, Arabella Smith served as a barmaid in the Faithful Bride, one of Tortuga's many taverns, the customers were known to get so drunk they would spill their ale all over the floor.[2]

Prior to the merchant ship Wicked Wench becoming the infamous pirate vessel Black Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow often drank watered ale during the Wench's journey to the island of Kerma.[3] During the quest for the Shadow Gold, when the Spanish Pirate Lord Eduardo Villanueva forcefully took a potential recruit Henry from Jack Sparrow and his First Mate Hector Barbossa, Barbossa complimented Villanueva's methods and took a swig from one of the tankards of ale that the barkeeper brought them at the Faithful Bride tavern.[4] By that time, pirates often joked that so many pints of ale had been spilled at the Faithful Bride that the floorboards were more ale than wood.[5] Later, the newly recruited pirate Catastrophe Shane tried to practice with a pistol aboard the Pearl, but the crew quickly took it from him after he shot a barrel of ale, the ocean, and the air above a very startled seagull.[6] Following the battle of Hong Kong, as the Pearl sailed for India, the girl Marcella sneaked below deck and brought the stowaway Barbara Huntington a plate of food and a mug of ale.[7]

At Port Royal, prior to the attack on Port Royal, people rushed home to the warmth of their hearths while in the taverns that lined the streets, men sat at wooden tables, warming themselves with ale and idle chat. To be a pirate meant to love Tortuga, with its crowded taverns, feisty women, and flowing ale. By the time Jack Sparrow found his new first mate Joshamee Gibbs behind the Faithful Bride, Gibbs smelled of pig and ale. Jack and Gibbs shared two tankards of ale while discussing the matter of recruiting a motley crew for the "fool's errand" of Sparrow's quest to regain the Black Pearl from Captain Barbossa.[8] Both pirates drank the tankards after the toast, "Take what you can, give nothing back."[9]

By 1750, ale was a known drink at the Captain's Daughter tavern in London, England. There was at least one old sailor drinking ale, taking swig from his tankard.[10] Following Jack Sparrow's escape in London, the Royal Guards entered the pub, where they fight Sparrow and Angelica. The two pirates fight to the back of the warehouse while slicing and stabbing barrels along the way, sending ale gushing and spraying out, causing a diversion.[11] In 1751, as Hector Barbossa's crew of the Queen Anne's Revenge celebrated another string of victories, one pirate on the main deck drank ale from a priceless Chinese vase.[12]

Behind the scenes

Ale first appeared in the 2003 video game Pirates of the Caribbean.[1]

The beverages that Jack Sparrow and Joshamee Gibbs drink in their tankards at the Faithful Bride tavern in the 2003 film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was never officially designated onscreen.[9] In Elizabeth Rudnick's junior novelization, the drink in their tankards was identified as ale.[8]

In Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's screenplay draft of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Jack Sparrow and Angelica cause a diversion by having ale spray out. Jack stabs one of the barrels, sending more ale gushing before he takes a quick drink.[13] However, in the final cut of the film, Sparrow drinks wine.[11]

Captain Teague does not appear James Ponti's junior novelization of On Stranger Tides, so his line to Jack Sparrow about some people looking for the crew is delivered by an "old salt" drinking ale.[10]

Appearances

External links

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pirates of the Caribbean (2003 video game)
  2. ↑ Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm, p. 8
  3. ↑ The Price of Freedom, Chapter Twelve: Shabako
  4. ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean, pp. 36-38
  5. ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean, pp. 27-28
  6. ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean, p. 41
  7. ↑ Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East, p. 209
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2006 junior novelization), p. 83
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (junior novelization), p. 28
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
  12. ↑ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Novelization, p. 96
  13. ↑ Wordplayer.com: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio