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[brewer bob]

There's also Cock Ale, so maybe something similar could be done with a hedgehog?:

"Take ten gallons of ale, and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar till his bones are broken (you must craw and gut him when you flay him); then put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put it to three pounds of raisins of the sun stoned, some blades of mace, and a few cloves; put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has done working, put the ale and bag together into a vessel; in a week or nine days time bottle it up; fill the bottle but just above the neck, and give the same time to ripen as other ale."

[hedgerow]

There's also Cock Ale, so maybe something similar could be done with a hedgehog?:

"Take ten gallons of ale, and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar till his bones are broken (you must craw and gut him when you flay him); then put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put it to three pounds of raisins of the sun stoned, some blades of mace, and a few cloves; put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has done working, put the ale and bag together into a vessel; in a week or nine days time bottle it up; fill the bottle but just above the neck, and give the same time to ripen as other ale."

Just the idea of mace being in anything I consume is enough to turn me off from the prospective liquor.

Hedgehogs are dirtier than chickens anyway.

You could cook them.  I do hear they eat hedgehogs in poorer parts of the world.

[delphonso]

Is this where the word cocktail comes from?

I'd imagine hedgehog consumption is probably rare due to them seeming to have no meat and also covered in spikes and their own shit.

[martinuzz]

Their prickly defense comes with a downside. Hedgehogs can't groom themselves properly, so they're always covered in lice, fleas and other parasites.

[brewer bob]

Is this where the word cocktail comes from?

At least Wikipedia states that "Several authors have theorized that cocktail may be a corruption of cock ale" along other possibilities.

[hedgerow]

Is this where the word cocktail comes from?

At least Wikipedia states that "Several authors have theorized that cocktail may be a corruption of cock ale" along other possibilities.

My teacher used to tell me it was because they put a cock feather in the glass.  The world may never know.

[King Zultan]

Maybe it's because they put a severed cock in a glass?

[Bralbaard]

There's also Cock Ale, so maybe something similar could be done with a hedgehog?:

"Take ten gallons of ale, and a large cock, the older the better; parboil the cock, flay him, and stamp him in a stone mortar till his bones are broken (you must craw and gut him when you flay him); then put the cock into two quarts of sack, and put it to three pounds of raisins of the sun stoned, some blades of mace, and a few cloves; put all these into a canvas bag, and a little before you find the ale has done working, put the ale and bag together into a vessel; in a week or nine days time bottle it up; fill the bottle but just above the neck, and give the same time to ripen as other ale."

I had to read that twice to find out that you add whatever remains of the cock to already mostly fermented ale, instead of fermenting the meat itself from the start which sounded like a terribly dangerous pasttime. Still, you'd have to be certain that there is already sufficient alcohol in the pre-fermented ale to keep any dangerous bacteria from gaining a foothold during the rest of the fermentation process.
In any case, fermenting hedgehogs sounds like a waste of a completely fine animal.
We have a resident hedgehog in our garden, and it is a great asset that keeps snail and slug populations down.

[brewer bob]

We have a resident hedgehog in our garden, and it is a great asset that keeps snail and slug populations down.

Just a couple days ago I saw our local hedgehog going about its business. Hadn't seen it for a while on its evening patrol, so was wondering if something had happened to it.

Also, I decided not to ferment the hedgehog (in case someone was wondering).