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There's no brew like a homebrew - Thomas Jefferson. Speaking of... Anyone ever do a "historical" beer that turned out great? I look at the recipes and I just think... Ugh.

I have a bottle of George Washington's molasses beer recipe that my buddy brewed. I should crack that open.
 
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Our first president's molasses beer recipe. It's a little thin, you can definitely taste the molasses in a strange aftertaste but given the limitations of what they had to brew with it this really isn't that bad

the recipe he went by but modified a bit.

George Washington's Recipe for Beer


George Washington was a devout beer lover. In particular, he was fond of the dark, English-style brew known as porter, and always demanded that an ample supply of it be kept on hand at Mount Vernon, his Virginia estate. However, it was not porter, but rather "small beer," for which Washington once recorded an early recipe. Preserved in the manuscript collections of the New York Public Library is a notebook kept by Washington, which includes the following hand-written recipe.

"To Make Small Beer

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 into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yeat 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."
 
View attachment 242308


Our first president's molasses beer recipe. It's a little thin, you can definitely taste the molasses in a strange aftertaste but given the limitations of what they had to brew with it this really isn't that bad

I love the thought of brewing something historical, I will put it on my list of small batch brews.

George Washington Small Beer - Hmm, did America invent the session beer? And more importantly, was George Washington a session beer pimp?
 
Had trouble getting the color correction to work, so I just went with a warmed up B&W. This is a great IPA! Insanely potent tropical fruit hop character. Mango, guava, and pineapple are the major players in the hop profile. Medium bodied and finishes on the dry side, but not to the point of astringency. Love that's it's available in CT now.

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I love the thought of brewing something historical, I will put it on my list of small batch brews.

George Washington Small Beer - Hmm, did America invent the session beer? And more importantly, was George Washington a session beer pimp?

I believe he used this article for help and I know he scaled down the batch size.

https://byo.com/brown-ale/item/1324-revolutionary-brewing

It isnt up to modern standards obviously but if this was all that was around I would have no problem drinking it.
 
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