That’s an interesting article, thanks for posting it. I’m especially interested in the mention of 21 accusations of witchcraft for “ruining beer” (p.283). There’s an interesting tradition of accusing “beer witches” of spoiling beer. I’ve been digging around trying to find an account of what constituted “spoiled” to the degree that an accusation of witchcraft followed.
Or, what would be credible when making such an accusation. Beer spoiled easily, and anyone who made beer would encounter a batch spoiled to one degree or another. Anyone who consumed beer would have encountered sour batches. So at what point of “spoiled” would someone think “aha! A witch.” Also, if one wanted to accuse someone of witchcraft, how bad would a batch have to be, or in what state, for a witchcraft accusation to be met with anything other than “Sven, your beer is always like this.”
