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The New York Public Library (NYPL) is giving visitors a chance to “taste history” by recreating George Washington’s beer recipe from the first president’s 1757 military journal, which is housed in the library’s research collections.
The library collaborated with New York City-based TALEA Beer Co. to recreate the brew, along with a Liberty Lager to appeal to modern palates.
“The initial response to [the library] reaching out was obviously awe,” LeAnn Darland, TALEA co-founder and co-CEO, told Fox News Digital. “Just to be considered to work with the New York Public Library is huge for us.”
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Washington’s beer recipe was written in a journal he kept as a young colonel in charge of the Virginia militia during the Seven Years’ War, the library’s website says, adding that he likely served it to his troops while stationed at Fort Loudon, Virginia.
The “notebook, mostly in Washington’s handwriting, contains the daily notes of the military commander: outlines for letters and orders, a list of officers’ commissions, the names of wagon horses and a recipe for ‘small beer.'”
“Small beer,” according to the library, derives its name from the small amount of alcohol it contains.
It was quick to make, safer to drink because the brewing process helped eliminate bacteria in the water — and it was an “everyday, mainstay beverage,” according to Darland.
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The recipe is fairly straightforward “and not far off from what a first-time home brewer would do,” Darland said.
There were some archaic phrases the brewers had to decipher, though, such as “a quart of yeast.”
“The fermentable sugar was just all molasses, which makes sense given they were probably just using what they had rationed to them when they were at camp or moving around,” Darland said.
TALEA worked with the library to taste-test their creations.
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“It was definitely a collaborative process,” Darland said. “With that initial small beer that we were trialing, we used a few different sugars that may have been available at that time to see how they would ferment and how they would carry through in a finished beer.”
The molasses of today is far more processed than what Washington was working with, she noted.
“Trying to get back to the truest form of what they had in the 1700s was the challenge,” Darland said. “The library team was really fun, and we ultimately decided to do it on [a] molasses base, which is the closest to George Washington’s beer.”
Darland said TALEA assumed the beer produced closest to Washington’s recipe “wouldn’t be very enjoyable for today’s drinker” — especially compared to the commercial beers that are available.
“But we were still very excited to bring it to life and see what everyone thought,” she said.
In addition to the majority of the small beer the NYPL has, TALEA decided to bring Washington’s beer to life “in a more modern way.”
TALEA produced a “pretty malty lager,” Darland said, which is similar in color to Washington’s beer, but much clearer. His looked like “muddy water,” she said.
The Liberty Lager “is a beautiful amber color and has more hops than the George Washington brew,” Darland said. “That’s really to just help balance out the sweetness of the malt a little bit more, and to make sure it’s palatable and that people want to come back to it again and again.”
Liberty Lager is available at TALEA’s taprooms. The NYPL will be offering samples of the small beer at its many America250 events this summer.
“We will likely brew [the small beer] again and sell it at all of our taprooms so people can experience it,” Darland said. “We are kind of blown away at the response and the demand for both beers right now, and are trying to play catch-up. We’re brewing more of the Liberty Lager as we speak. It’s been a pretty wild week.”
Darland is a Navy veteran and said she hopes the patriotic brews bring people together.
“Wanting to be patriotic shouldn’t always come with such stark political lines drawn in the sand,” she said.
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“There are a lot of great values that America stands for and opportunities that it can bring to people if we can just all put the political views aside and appreciate something as simple as a beer. That is really what beer is meant to do – bring people together. Maybe [you’ll] learn a little bit but also just have fun and build community.”
George Washington’s Small Beer Recipe, transcribed by New York Public Library
Ingredients
A large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste
3 Gall[ons] Molasses
A quart of Yea[s]t
Directions
Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste. Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler.
Put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses (sic) into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot.
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Let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yea[s]t.
If the Weather is very Cold cover it over with a Blank[et] & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask – leave the bung open till it is almost don[e] Working –
Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed.
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