George Washington – Beer Lover
February 22, 2010
Today is February 22. If you didn’t know that Feb 22 marks the anniversary of George Washington’s birthday, that’s understandable.
The holiday presently known as ‘Presidents’ Day’ was originally known as ‘Washington’s Birthday’. Its interesting that it is the first Federal holiday to honor an American citizen, and even more interesting is that it was actually first celebrated on Washington’s birthday in 1796 – the last year of his Presidency.
As the years have gone by, Washington’s Birthday came to include the celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, (February 12) and now I think it actually honors the birthdays of all American Presidents. Hence, the holiday known as Presidents’ Day.
Now that we’ve cleared the air a bit, we can get on with the point of this post! Did you know that George Washington was into beer? Not only was the first President of the United States into beer, but he had one of the largest distilleries in the country! He certainly must have known his stuff regarding the brewing arts as he also grew his own barley, harvested his own ice (for beer cooling) and operated a gristmill.
As a matter of fact, the New York Public Library has in its archives a notebook from 1757 that contains a beer recipe written in George Washington’s own hand. Washington’s beer recipe is thus:
To Make Small Beer:
“Take a large siffer full of bran hops to your taste-boil these 3 hours. Then strain our 30 gall[o]n into a cooler put in 3 gall[o]n molasses while the beer is scalding hot or rather draw 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 ye[a]st if the weather is very cold cover it over with a blank[et] let it work in the cask-Leave the bung open till it is almost done working-Bottle it that day week it was brewed.”
Some of you home-brewing pros should try this beer recipe out, although I’m not sure what the ‘bung’ is that’s being referenced! From what I’ve read, this is an awful-tasting beer, but it would be really interesting nonetheless to pull it off. Anybody want to translate George Washington’s beer recipe to modern-day talk???
Anyway, one of George Washington’s favorite cities was Philadelphia, which in 1776 was the second-largest city in the British Empire. Many important events involved Washington and Philadelphia. Among them were him being appointed Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in May 1775, and in 1797 Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention.
One of George Washington’s favorite places to visit while in Philadelphia was the City Tavern, and not too long ago (the Tavern still exists, although rebuilt) the Tavern worked out an arrangement with Philadelphia’s Yards 
Brewing Company to recreate Washington’s beer!
Looking at the Yards website, they say that the “molasses-based Tavern Porter™ reflects Washington’s admiration of Philadelphia-style porters and follows a recipe Washington used himself, when brewing beer to satisfy his thirsty field officers.”
I’m just curious what changes (if any) were made to the recipe?
Washington was also responsible for helping kick start the American beer movement. With the ‘Port Act’ in 1774, which closed off the port of Boston by the British, Washington and others supported a bill drafted by Sam Adams (name ring a bell?) called the ‘non-consumption agreement‘. This agreement among the colonies encouraged the colonists to boycott and otherwise not use British goods. This included English Ale which everyone seemed to love!
For awhile there it was probably yummy beers like Spruce Ale. Talk about sacrifice! But to make up for the reduction of British Ale being consumed, American brewers were able to increase their own production to help meet the need.
And the rest, they say, is history.
If you’d like to learn more about George Washington and his connection to beer, check out these interesting links on the subject.
- George Washington – Our Porter-Pounding Founding Father
- Drinking With George Washington in Philadelphia
- The City Tavern
- Washington’s Mt. Vernon distillery
- George Washington: President and Beer Lover
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February 22nd, 2010 at 9:54 am
Awesome post Scott! Seriously…I’ve head this in rumor-like for about George Washington but never read the guts of the history. I love the recipe…open fermentation, molasses….mmmm. I am guessing the grain was unmalted??? Not sure. Very cool that he paved the way for America to become the craft beacon that is has. Great post.
.-= nate´s last blog ..Black Tuesday Again: This time I tasted it. =-.
February 22nd, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Thanks Nate. I had fun reading up on the story and the links I included at the end of the post are worth checking out if you want to learn more.
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Southern Tier Porter =-.
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Nice one Scott, a fascinating read.
.-= Bob the Brit´s last blog ..Pancake Day =-.
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:39 am
Love this post, Scott. Especially the Philadelphia connection, of course. We went to his estate, Mt. Vernon, not too long ago and wound up spending about 8 hours there. It was fantastic. Definitely worth the trip if you’re looking for an east coast travel spot. Now–off to find some Yards Tavern Porter.
.-= Rachel´s last blog ..Rowhouse Red Ale =-.
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:25 am
Thanks Rachel – I’d love to visit Mt. Vernon someday! If you find the Tavern Porter, please stop in and let us know how it was – I can’t find it anywhere up here by NYC
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence =-.
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Success, Scott. I was able to pick up a 6pack of this at Whole Foods ($9.99 for a 6pack). It’s packaged under “ales of the revolution” on the bottle holder, not “Yards Tavern Porter.” More pictures and a review will follow but most likely not today. Thanks for the info. A great story right under my nose and I had no idea! I’m sure my husband will like to try this too. Huzzah to the Brew Club–breaking news on the beer front.
.-= Rachel´s last blog ..Rowhouse Red Ale =-.
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:01 pm
@Rachel, that’s great! There’s also (by Yard’s) a beer based on a Jefferson recipe as well as a Spruce Beer (linked above) by Franklin. I didn’t know that spruce was used much the same way hops are used in beer. Use what’s available I guess!
Looking forward to hearing what you think about the beer when you get to trying it.
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Jah-Va Coffee Stout – Southern Tier Brewing Company =-.
February 24th, 2010 at 3:28 am
OK Scott, The Bung referred to is the hole in the barrel thqt you dump the liquid out of. It is typocally plugged with a round piece of oak that fits into the hole and is whacked with a hammer to wedge it in place. Not only did Washington brew beer, but when Washington was President Americans drank about six times as much per capita as they do today. They not only brewed beer but they distilled Rye. That was the original American Spirit. They produced this to get away from importing spirits into the US. I wrote a post about it and it ties in nicely with this very interesting and informative post. Great job Scott. Here is the link to my post about the history of rye. http://beerandwhiskeybros.com/2009/10/21/poor-old-overholt/
.-= Don´s last blog ..Drinking in the Super 8…Round 3. =-.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:18 am
Thanks Don! That information fills in a lot of holes actually, (the bung thing) and I’d agree your post ties in quite nicely! Its interesting to see how things got off the ground, often out of necessity but I guess that’s usually the case anyway.
I was reading how homebrewing was practiced by most families back then, and the higher consumption isn’t necessarily an indicator that people back then were all drunks. Part of brewing beer was, and seems to always have been (until recently I suppose) because water wasn’t always clean.
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Beer Review -Yards Extra Special Ale (ESA) =-.
February 24th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Yeah, its funny the water back then wasn’t always clean, but they place such a huge emphasis on making sure everything in home brewing is absolutely sterile! Oh well, I guess you don’t see a lot of people dying from botchulism (sp) either. I always have been a terrible speller, but the spell check doesn’t work on botchulism, and I don’t have a clue…
.-= Don´s last blog ..Drinking in the Super 8…Round 3. =-.
March 5th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
I always wonder how much our pallets change as a society. I suspect that beer, back then was drastically different than it is today…. I general a lot darker, a lot richer, and full of quite a bit more “natural” or “wild” elements…. Not so much these pure and sterile concoctions we make today.
March 7th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Its actually kind of important to add on one caveat to all of this. SMALL BEER is not something George Washington himself would have drank, it was something that was fed to servants and children during that era–because water was not potable and beer provided a sanitized drink. Aside from that, I’m in the process of brewing this myself and I’m not modifying the formula at all.
Heres my ingredients:
1 part unsulphered mollasses (originally 3 gallons)
10 parts boiling water (that had bran and hops boiling in it) (originally 30 gallons)
The amount of bran I calculated to be approximately 3LB if doing the full 33gallon batch, however since I am doing a 15.5 gallon cask (with a real oak bung), i’m cutting the whole recipe in half.
So, 1.5 gallons mollasses, 5 gallons boiling water, 1.5LB of bran in the water (to be siphoned out) and since its hops to taste, I’ll do what would be normal for 15 gallons of beer, about 3-5 oz.
For the hops variety, I’m apt to use Northern Brewer hops as they are very neutral in flavor and easy to work with. But I can see this becoming an issue, as I have not been able to locate more information on hops used during this era. If anyone knows more… it would be spectacular for my work.
March 7th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Typo: ~15 gallons of water, not 5.
March 7th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Larry, that’s really cool! I do hope you’ll check in when its done to let us know how it all turns out! I find this to be very interesting!
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..River Horse Oatmeal Milk Stout =-.
March 7th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
Ahhhhh. So what Larry is saying (I think) is that the recipe for ‘Small Beer’ is not what we see being used in the ‘Tavern Porter’. Small Beer sounds like something that might have been served with the daily rations in place of questionable water, and not something that Washington would have enjoyed @ the City Tavern. Interesting. Thanks for the clarification Larry!
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Beer Tasting Notes =-.