Cost of A Cordial

The following is an extract from a cordial documentation that I have been working on describing the cost of cordials. This is partly in response to SCAdians who think that cordials were consumed, in the middle ages, in the same fashion and quantities as today. They simply were too expensive.

Just a side note: Plat’s recipe “How to make the ordinarie spirit of wine, that is solde for five shillings & a noble, a pinte” [1] would make this an expensive beverage. A noble was the first gold coin minted in Medieval England and was worth 80 pence. Or 6 shillings and 8 pence. So, this cordial could be sold for 11 shillings and 8 pence per pint. According to MeasuringWorth.com, this would be worth between $142 and $2400 in 2018 dollars. [2] These cordials were not cheap. In London, in 1609, a barrel [3] of the best ale was sold for 3 shillings and 8 pence, and a barrel of the best beer [4] was sold for 4 shillings. This works out to 3 to 3.5 pennies per gallon. [5] Cordials were too expensive to be consumed as a social beverage.

[1] Plat DfL, page E3
[2] Whether we convert based on the fixed prices of standard goods and services (food, shelter, clothing) or the wages of the average laborer.
[3] 36 gallons
[4] Beer was made with hops.
[5] Stow. p363


Plat, Hugh, Sir, and Katherine Golden Bitting Collection On Gastronomy. Delights for Ladies to Adorn Their Persons, Tables, Closets, and Distillatories, With Beauties, Banquets, Perfumes, and Waters. London: Printed by J. Young, 644. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/73217891 /.

Stow, John. A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, Borough of Southwark, and Parts Adjacent ...: Being an Improvement of Mr. Stow’s, and Other Surveys, by Adding Whatever Alterations Have Happened in the Said Cities, &c. to the Present Year ... T. Read, 1735.

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This is just something I felt should be said. I'm trying to dig up the initial cost of the last, great medicinal, English cordial, The King's Ginger (initially called The King's Liqueur). This cordial was designed by Berry Brothers & Rudd in 1903 on the advice of King Edward VII's doctor, who was worried that the King might catch his death of cold while driving around in his new horseless carriage. The Doctor recommended that the King drink a dram of the warming beverage after his royal drives. So far, I have been unable to discover the original cost of this cordial, but I did discover that Americans could purchase it, in 1906, for $10. That's $288 to $651 in today's money. I figure that half of that amount was for shipping and import taxes. Still, that's one hell of a price for one bottle of booze that it is recommended that I only drink a 1/8th of an ounce when I go for a drive. Cordials were too expensive for the majority of people to drink them just to get a buzz. Not when beer and wine were so much cheaper.