Adam's ale Adam's ale Adam's ale (also referred to as "Adam's wine", especially in Scotland; sometimes simply called "Adam") is a colloquial allusion meaning water. It alludes to the idea that the biblical Adam had only water to drink. This inference gained popularity around the beginning of the 19th-century temperance movement. "Adam's ale" means unadulterated water, based on the presumption that the biblical first man Adam had only water to drink in the Garden of Eden. Common variations are "Adam's wine" in Scotland, and sometimes simply "Adam". The phrase is an allusion, colloquialism, epithet, and idiom. In common use until the mid-
When Jones' Ale was New drink and dye his old face,<br> When Jones's ale was new, my boys, when Jones's ale was new.<br> In the Copper Family version, "The Jovial Tradesmen" from rural Sussex: The first to come in was the ploughman with sweat all on his brow,<br> Up with the lark at the break of day he guides the speedy plough.<br> He drives his team, how they do toil<br> O'er hill and valley to turn the soil,<br> When Jones's ale was new, my boys, when Jones's ale was new.<br> (The Copper Family version also includes verses introducing a blacksmith and a scytheman, both important