Drink Like The Forefathers Did: George Washington's Beer Recipe

In between running the country and helping to draft the Constitution, turns out George Washington managed to squeeze some time in to perfect his beer recipe. And, in honor of New York Public Library’s centennial, which houses a collection of his papers (including his beer recipe), 15 gallons of the brew will be offered for tasting.

The NYPL has teamed up with Shmaltz Brewing Company to create "Fortitude’s Founding Father Brew." Shmaltz brewer Josh Knowlton admits that the recipe is not an exact replica. “Back then, they didn’t really have quite the same understanding of brewing science that we do now,” he says.

The original recipe is as follows:

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.

Comments

[ajr7u]

12:53 PM on 05/11/2011

and here's the recipe:
http://hopville.com/recipe/525643/robust-porter-recipes/george-mashingtun-molasses-porter

[ajr7u]

12:52 PM on 05/11/2011

Here's a George Washington inspired beer recipe I just made that turned out real well. Took a while to carbonate but I just had one on Saturday and it was real good. I basically just took a porter recipe (because porter was supposedly George's favorite) and added some molasses to it.

[cardtosser]

10:59 AM on 05/10/2011

No malt? Sounds terrible, but cheap.

[J D Young]

10:48 AM on 05/08/2011

Sifter = snifter? This is sort of like todays un-hopped beer kit using molasses instead of malt extract to feed the yeast, which converts sugar into alcohol. The boiling hop tea sanitizes the first fermentation container. The biggest challenge was keeping the yeast culture uninfected and ongoing. Is it beer? By German standards adjuncts such as rice, corn and sugar are not allowed. I'd call this a variation on hopped mead. And I will pass on trying this at home.

[MuchMadness]

11:05 PM on 05/09/2011

What? You mean Washington didn't follow German beer rules?
I would have thought that a few of the Hessians that he captured at Trenton would have taught him the Reinheitsgebot!

[Andrewmc]

09:13 AM on 05/13/2011

The Germans don't even follow German beer standards (which were repealed in 1988 anyway).

For example, wheat beer would be prohibited under the Rheinheitsgebot. There are former monasterial breweries in Germany that add sugar (Neuzeller, for example).

And finally, the law only ever applied to lagers, not ales.

Mostly, it was just a marketing tool.

[Andrewmc]

09:29 AM on 05/13/2011

Thanks for the comment. It got me pulling my books down and reading around. Found this ran ton the web:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~patto1ro/reinheit.htm

Repetitive, but funny. And somewhat on-point.

[CTDFalconer]

07:03 PM on 05/10/2011

To call it mead, it would have to have honey, yes? I think at the time, the term "beer" was looser than it is now, meaning any brewed and fermented beverage, not necessarily grain-based.

[osofar]

08:24 PM on 05/06/2011

I think the receipe needs more information.

[osofar]

08:24 PM on 05/06/2011

Beersheba I hear made some excellent beer.

[rikster]

09:49 PM on 05/05/2011

didn't they brush their teeth with this stuff...?

[maple shaft]

08:17 PM on 05/05/2011

Is that Bran Hops or Bran and Hops? I am intrigued about the molasses though, I wonder what it would have tasted like?

[CTDFalconer]

10:08 PM on 05/10/2011

The word "bran" was historically used to mean small flakes, so it probably just means dried hops. If you find out how it tastes by making it, please report back, ok?

[CraigR]

06:51 PM on 05/05/2011

What the hell is a Sifter?

[RevSpaminator]

06:02 PM on 05/05/2011

My guess, like others here, is that "blood warm" means somewhere between 95F and 100F. That would be an ideal temp for pitching yeast. I'm not sure I'd be into a molasses based beer. I'll stick with my own malty concoctions. Currently have a nice amber ale in secondary about ready to bottle. :)

[Moosington]

12:43 PM on 05/06/2011

You pitch at 95-100? Hmmm, that's a little high. Ideally you pitch at fermenting temp, or a few degrees higher. I typically pitch at 70F. You also don't want too much of a disparity between yeast temp and wort temp when you pitch. I know, I know, RDWHAHB, there are many ways to skin a horse, especially in brewing.

[CTDFalconer]

07:06 PM on 05/10/2011

Most brewers I know like to pitch slightly below fermentation temp. and let it come up as the yeast goes through lag phase. I think it cuts down slightly on ester production.

[Andrewmc]

09:16 AM on 05/13/2011

GW probably pitched that high for a couple of reasons:

1. "Blood warm" is an easy temp to remember and figure out without a thermometer

2. That temp would kick start the yeast and make for a quicker initial fermentation, lessening the chances that the beer would go bad (from what we now know are bacteria).

[StAlphonso]

04:46 PM on 05/05/2011

They forgot the last step -- pour it down the sink and go out and buy a case of Natty Light.

[grailknight]

06:49 PM on 05/05/2011

Pour the Natty Light down the drain. Better yet, just get a glass of water from the tap!

[MajorKong]

08:39 PM on 05/05/2011

Natty Light is like making love in a rowboat. They're both f'ing close to water.

[grailknight]

09:56 PM on 05/05/2011

Monty Python!

[J0E1]

03:56 PM on 05/05/2011

Any mention of needing TP for that bung[hole]?

[Euterpe360]

12:39 PM on 05/06/2011

Nice.

[Mummybadgers]

02:28 PM on 05/05/2011

My guess is "blood warm" suggests human body temperature, or roughly 98.6°F. On another note, my inner Beavis and Butthead fan is tittering over the word "bunghole."

[golions]

01:01 PM on 05/05/2011

Why didn't NYPL team up with Sam Adams?

[deweydecimal]

09:28 PM on 05/05/2011

Because they wanted a palatable beer.

[SouthStJo]

03:26 PM on 05/06/2011

seriously? Sam Adams makes some of the best beers around.

[Andrewmc]

09:19 AM on 05/13/2011

Or, they wanted to get in on the Sam Adams/Dogfish trend of making crazy beers. And they wanted to do it solo.

SA has palatable beers, even some decent ones. When Noble Pils is on tap I'll have one. I had Utopia on tap at the Great American Beer Fest this past year. Stood there and drank down what was probably $200 worth of beer. And that stuff was amazing. I still wouldn't buy a bottle, but man was that good.

[BobABooey]

12:45 PM on 05/05/2011

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm Beer

[fishnetdiver]

05:13 AM on 05/06/2011

and the award for 'Best D@mn Comment of the Day' goes to...!

[Queen Regnant]

02:54 PM on 05/08/2011

Homer Simpson