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Quha Hes Gud Malt And Makis Ill Drynk

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A meal with a tankard of Ale. "Still Life with Cheeses, Artichoke, and Cherries". Clara Peeters, Early seventeenth Century.

Quha Hes Gud Malt And Makis Ill Drynk is a brief, anonymous Scots poem of the sixteenth century which praises skillful brewers and curses unskillful ones. Throughout the poem, the brewers are assumed to be female. The poem is found in the Bannatyne Manuscript.[1]

Attribution

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No author is named in the manuscript. Instead, the poem is given the post-script "Quod Allanis Suddart" or, in English, "So Said Allan's Soldier."

The post-script is similar to that of the poem Quhy Sowld Nocht Allane Honorit Be, which is also found in the Bannatyne Manuscript. Both poems share the theme of ale-drinking.

Synopsis

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Quha Hes Gud Malt And Makis Ill Drynk consists of two verses. The first stanza declares that women who brew a poor ale, despite having good malt, should be damned in the worst of circumstances.

In contrast, the second stanza wishes that skillful brewers should enjoy a happy funeral followed by salvation in heaven.

References

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