The bride-ale thing is at least partly true- it does come from bride-ale, but in Old English the word "ale" didn't only mean beer, but also a feast or party at

The bride-ale thing is at least partly true- it does come from bride-ale, but in Old English the word "ale" didn't only mean beer, but also a feast or party at which people drank it. There were other similar occasions, including the "church-ale" to raise money for repair of a church. AFAIK the only survival of this term is the "Morris ale", which is a gathering of Morris dancers (who do tend to drink a lot of ale). In terms of female brewers, it is interesting that the surname "Brewster" exists and specifically refers to an ancestor who was a female brewer. The "-ster" suffix in English used to be the female equivalent of "-er" (as it still is in Dutch). The only regular English word in which "-ster" survives is spinster, but it also survives in other occupational surnames like Webster (a female weaver) and Baxter (a female baker). Most things about witches and their persecution tend to owe more to myth than history, though...