The name of an English brewing family famous for its
real ale and
IPA. The Flowers brewery in Cheltenham has traditionally used the image of
William Shakespeare as its logo, commemorating a long association as one of the earliest sponsors of the
Shakespeare Theatre in nearby
Stratford-Upon-Avon (now home to the
RSC).
Notwithstanding the brewery's changes of ownership over the years, most recently into the hands of brewing and catering giant Whitbread, Flowers ales are still fairly tasty beers, fine for supping on a sunny day outside a timber-beamed pub by the river in any picturesque English town or village, particularly in the West Country, Cotswolds and Thames Valley.
However it may not be a good idea to pursue the Shakespearean connection too far: in the 17th Century, 'flowers' was also slang for menstrual fluids, and in this context "a pint of Flowers" sounds rather less appealing:
By all love's soft, yet mighty powers,
It is a thing unfit,
That men should fuck in time of flowers,
Or when the smock's beshit.
Fair nasty nymph, be clean and kind,
And all my joys restore;
By using paper still behind,
And sponges for before.
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, 17th Century