@Sheril

Brewing and the sale of beer pre-dated the invention of signs and flags. Brewsters sold their excess beer, but it would go bad quickly, so it wasn’t always available. Simply posting a stick or post outside, or attached above the door, was a way of saying you had something “for sale” right now. Decorating the stick was a way of showing what you had for sale, and in some regions, a bundle of barley stalks tied to the pole meant you had beer available. It resembled a broom.

hmmmm….