Strange Brew

"... Bryþen was ongunnen
þætte Adame Eve gebyrmde æt fruman worulde"

I came across this interesting account of the Fall while reading an Old English poem on St. Guthlac, and English saint this week. I've never read a figuration of the Fall in these terms, so the novelty of the image struck me. The line translates: "The brew was in the making that Eve fermented for Adam at the beginning of the world". It goes on to discuss sin and death as a potion that is first made in the Fall and remains to be drunk by all of humanity. I suppose this would have been one attempt to explain that age old conundrum of the transmission of "original sin".

I guess I was reminded by it because of that creamy Black and Tan I had last night at Claddagh, an Irish Pub/Restaurant that's one of the few places for food that's not bad around here.