Quotation from: Manners, Custom and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period

Written by: Paul Lacroix

Under the Romans, the real _cervoise_, or beer, was made with barley; but,
at a later period, all sorts of grain was indiscriminately used; and it
was only towards the end of the sixteenth century that adding the flower
or seed of hops to the oats or barley, which formed the basis of this
beverage, was thought of.