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George Washington's Favourite Beer

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    Posted: 09 May 2011 at 16:26

The New York Public Library Raises a Toast With George Washington’s Beer

From The History Channel - 9 May 2011

General, revolutionary, founding father, president and…brew master? George Washington was a man of many talents, including inventing original recipes for his drink of choice: beer. Thanks to a partnership between the New York Public Library and Brooklyn’s Coney Island Brewing Company, today’s drinkers will get the chance to sample one of his concoctions in honor of the library’s centennial later this month. 
 
 
Written in 1757, the future president's porter recipe calls for bran hops, yeast and a hefty dose of molasses. (Credit: The New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division)
 
The New York Public Library recently released a 1757 porter recipe written in the future president’s scrawl in a journal Washington kept while serving in the Virginia militia. Under the heading “To Make Small Beer,” it calls for a mixture of bran hops, yeast and molasses. (Until well into the 19th century, “small beers” were weak-tasting, low-alcohol drafts considered suitable for children and meant to be consumed immediately after brewing, according to the library.) Washington begins by instructing readers to “take a large Sifter or Bran Hops to your Taste.” He later specifies that the concoction must be boiled and let stand until “Blood warm.”

The first president’s fondness for the effervescent malt beverage is well known, according to “Brewed in America,” Stanley Baron’s 1962 history of beer and ale in the United States. When the British fled New York City on November 25, 1783, for instance, General Washington toasted the auspicious turn of events with a draught of ale at Manhattan’s Bull’s Head Tavern. After the American Revolution, when President Washington and his wife Martha entertained distinguished guests, they served bottles of porter from Philadelphia’s most acclaimed brewer, Robert Hare.

The New York Public Library, which owns the notebook containing the recipe, announced last Wednesday that it was working with the Coney Island Brewing Company to resurrect the beer. Fifteen gallons of the porter, to be known as “Fortitude’s Founding Father Brew,” will be brewed to celebrate the library’s 100-year anniversary. Sources are reporting that half the batch will follow Washington’s specifications, while the remainder will substitute barley for molasses in an effort to please the modern beer aficionado’s palate. The country’s first president, who famously suffered from dental problems throughout his life, evidently liked his porter extra-sweet.

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George Washington, Brewer: His Recipe for "Small Beer"
 

The resources for the study of George Washington at The New York Public Library are important, and include such singular icons as the autograph manuscript of the great man's Farewell Address to his fellow citizens upon leaving the Presidency. But certainly the most effervescent item of Washingtoniana in The New York Public Library is the first President's personal recipe for "small beer," which appears in the notebook dating from 1757 that Washington kept while he served as a colonel in the Virginia militia.

 
Until well into the 19th century, a distinction was made between "strong," "table," "ship's," and "small" beer. Small beer was weak both in taste and alcoholic content (suitable for children) and was meant to be drunk immediately after being brewed.

To make Small Beer

Take a large Sifter full of Bran Hops to your Taste. — Boil these 3 hours. Then strain out 30 Gallons into a Cooler, put in 3 Gallons Molasses while the Beer is scalding hot or rather drain the molasses into the Cooler & strain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. Let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm. Then put in a quart of Yeast if the weather is very cold, cover it over with a Blanket & let it work in the Cooler 24 hours. Then put it into the Cask — leave the Bung[hole] open till it is almost done working — Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed
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George Washington. "To Make Small Beer." From Washington's Notebook as a Virginia Colonel, 1757.
The New York Public Library, Manuscripts and Archives Division.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Boilermaker Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 May 2011 at 18:04
Molasses instead of barley malt, interesting.
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