Give Me Craft Beer of Give Me Death!

Them's fightin' words!

Okay, I admit it. That might not be exactly what Patrick Henry exclaimed to the Virginia House of Burgesses at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia on March 23, 1775, but his spirit, when applied to the Great War of Beer Liberation, still applies. And where better to look for inspiration when rebelling against the tyranny of the mega brewers than to our own founding fathers?

This is a blog post about those founding fathers, and their relationship to our favorite malted-grain-based beverage, made the correct way of course. I recommend you open a second browser page or a second tab and dial up some patriotic music to grace your eardrums while reading this. Might I suggest the Battle Hymn of the Republic or the Stars and Stripes Forever? If nothing else, hum a tune in your head. Take a few moments to come up with one. I’ll wait. Okay, ready?

Believe it or not (and you probably should), colonial Americans drank beer - a lot of it. It was almost exclusively home-brewed and, although the basic principles of brewing were similar to what we use today, some of the ingredients they used would be downright weird today. Potato beer, for example, was quite popular, with recipes for this “excellent beverage” published in a number of sources from the day. Molasses, ginger, spruce, treacle, and even peas were also common to find in brewing recipes of the era.

George Washington's recipe for
his 11% ABV "small beer"

Like most land owners of their age, the Founding Fathers made beer at home (it was actually their wives, servants, and slaves that did most of the brewing) and given their fame (and tendency to keep good records), we are lucky enough to have their recipes. George Washington famously boycotted his beloved imported British porters just before war broke out and lent his support to a bill that called for the avoidance of British beer, tea and other cornerstones of daily life (the bill in question was crafted by one Samuel Adams). Today, Washington's personal formula for “small beer”—an everyday drink that might be consumed by children, servants and the infirm – can be found at the New York Public Library. If brewed strictly to his methods, this beer would clock in around the 11% ABV mark, with the addition of ample amounts of molasses as the main culprit.

Thomas Jefferson originally left the brewing to his wife, Martha. In the early 1770s, she was managing the production of 15 gallons of small beer every two weeks or so. Brewing at Monticello wasn’t on Jefferson's radar at first, but he seemed to enjoy a renewed interest in the early part of the new nineteenth century when he began purchasing books on brewing, and mentioned it more frequently in his letters. Things began to turn around at the outbreak of the War of 1812, when Jefferson employed Joseph Miller, an English brewer who was unable to return to his native country, to improve Monticello's beers. Miller taught Jefferson’s slaves his skills, and before long, Monticello was turning out some quality brews. It is perhaps somewhat surprising that Jefferson, a committed chronicler of just about everything else, did not leave a full recipe for Monticello's beers, but it is possible to extract his ingredients and methods through his papers (including the design of his state-of-the-art brew house).

Another Founding Father who had a hand in our early beer culture was James Madison, who proposed founding a national brewery and creating a Secretary of Beer. Congress, of course, did not support his grand plans, with one of the dissenting opinions coming from Benjamin Franklin, who felt that his fellow printers imbibed a little too freely:

One of the original gangsters of
politic'n and beer drinkin'

“every day a Pint before Breakfast, a Pint at Breakfast with his Bread and Cheese; a Pint between Breakfast and Dinner; a Pint at Dinner; a Pint in the afternoon about Six O'Clock, and another when he had done his Day's-Work. I thought it a detestable Custom. But it was necessary, he suppos'd, to drink strong Beer that he might be strong to Labour. I endeavour'd to convince him that the Bodily Strength afforded by Beer could only be in Proportion to the Grain or Flour of the Barley dissolved in the Water of which it was made.”

I might be crazy, but the last part of that quote sounds like Franklin is saying that a beer is only as good as the ingredients that went into it. I couldn’t agree more with Ben.

In spite of his aversions towards nationally endorsed drinking, Franklin kept a recipe around for making spruce beer. Like Washington's recipe, it called for large amounts of molasses or sugar. He used essence of spruce rather than fresh sprigs, though other contemporary recipes, mainly from New England, used the plant directly. Other brewers further differentiated between white spruce beer, made with sugar, and brown spruce beer, using molasses; it seems Franklin enjoyed both.

Modern day brewers brewing up historical beers - Yards Brewing Co in Philadelphia, PA

Today, historic beers are often recreated but are typically adjusted a bit for the modern palate, and for a population that is not accustomed to drinking alcohol all day, every day. Philadelphia’s Yards Brewing Company (Philly Shout Out!) makes a line of beers called the Ales of the Revolution series that includes George Washington's Tavern Porter, Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale, and Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale. Each beer is based on thorough research, although there are certain refinements that ensure each one is pleasing to drinkers today. Brewer Tom Kehoe has noted the difficulty of using some of the historic ingredients on a commercial scale. Modern brewing techniques also ensure consistency from batch to batch, something early American drinkers could rarely hope to enjoy.

Tom Jefferson would be proud

Starr Hill has also used Monticello's records to create Monticello Reserve Ale, available on-site at Jefferson's home. Their brewer, Levi Duncan, intends to brew an entirely historically accurate (and, in all likelihood, quite sour) version for testing purposes at some point in the future, if he hasn’t already.

Another place to find colonial brews is the Historic Foodways program at Colonial Williamsburg, where visitors can watch the eighteenth century brewing process in person, and occasionally there is some sampling of the exact replica beers.

Happy Birthday America – go celebrate your independence and your beer drinking forefathers who fought against tyranny and oppression to ensure our liberty and freedom to drink great beer. Raise a pint to them, and raise a pint to the brewers today who make beer the correct way and are fighting to free us from the tyranny of industrial mega-breweries and their sub-standard brewing practices and ingredients (sorry… had to put one more plug in there).

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!