I well remember joining in with this song when the men from our village used to get together to harvest each farms' crops in North Devon in the 1950s. Every Friday night, whichever farmers land was being harvested at that time would provide scrumpy cider for all the men in one of his barns. I was only a lad but used to drive the horse and cart on which stooks of corn were loaded. However I used to be part of this gathering on Fridays where each man was required to sing a folkie type song........ 'Ale ale glorious ale' was a very popular song at that time and we regularly sung it with all harmonies (except when the men were drunk and harmonies were not what they were supposed to be.). I was brought up believing that it was a Devonshire song and it was always sung in a broad Devon accent. Martyn Wyndham-Read sang Ale, Ale, Glorious Ale in 1966 on his, Danny Spooner and Gordon McIntyre's Australian album A Wench, a Whale and a Pint of Good Ale.
It was billed as 'A drinking song from the south of England, led by Martyn, and sung with obvious relish by all three' which included obviously other singers.