Seven months ago, Tara Hankison and LeAnn Darland of TALEA Beer Co. received a “cold” email about recreating a beer recipe found in a notebook. It stood out for three reasons. One: it came from their next-door neighbor in Bryant Park, the New York Public Library. Two: the request was tied to America’s 250th anniversary. And three: the notebook belonged to a Virginia colonel who would eventually become our first president. Yes, the owner was none other than George Washington.
Dating back to 1757, the journal followed a young Washington as he led a Virginia militia during the Seven Years’ War. Penned in neat cursive, Washington details daily military matters from orders to be given, down to the names and physical descriptions of all the wagon horses. But on the very last page, Washington writes out a recipe titled, “To Make Small Beer.” Using hops “to your taste” and three gallons of molasses, the recipe resulted in a low-alcohol beer that was meant to be consumed for hydration over anything else, given the lack of potable water and devastating effects of dysentery.
Photography courtesy of the New York Public Library| An excerpt of George Washington’s 1757 notebook
Aware of its existence when the notebook was purchased in 1918, the library has revived the recipe in recent years. In 2011, it collaborated with Coney Island Brewing to produce Fortitude’s Founding Father Brew to celebrate the library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building’s 100th birthday. In 2016, Long Island’s Blue Point Brewing produced Colonial Ale, an American brown ale in honor of Hofstra University hosting its first-ever presidential debate during the 2016 election. As part of NYPL’s “250 Years: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness initiative surrounding America’s 250th anniversary, the library brought the small beer back to light, this time tapping the women-owned brewery. And as Darland approached the now 269-year-old recipe, she couldn’t help but liken it to something extremely familiar to all budding beer makers.
“It’s like a homebrew recipe,” she said of the beer, calling out the recipe’s use of “malt extract” instead of milling the grain, steeping it and turning it into mash, followed by “water, yeast and a little bit of hops.”
To recreate it, Eric Brown, TALEA’s head of production, followed the recipe “pretty literally” to produce 200 bottles, using 30 gallons of water, three gallons of baking molasses, a little bit of hops “to balance out the sweetness,” and fermented it with an isolated yeast strain. The result was an opaque, rust colored beer, malty on the nose given the amount of molasses in it and overall a bit more sour than expected. Darland reckons Washington’s beer was probably even “funkier” given he was likely using “wild yeast or whatever was in the air.”
Photograpy courtesy of NYPL/ Jonathan Blanc| Liberty Lager from TALEA Beer Co.
And while the count-for-count recipe will only be served at NYPL’s private events (there’s never been a better time to be a member), TALEA created a second beer inspired by the Founding Father’s recipe, albeit for the modern man. Just in time for America’s birthday, the brewery released Liberty Lager earlier this June, an “approachable beer that nods to George Washington’s original recipe with subtle maltiness and a hint of hops,” said Hankison in a press release. The amber lager is currently available at local retail locations and at TALEA’s five taprooms around the city.
But for Darland, diving into America’s early periods via beer was an easy way to mark such a momentous occasion.
“Beer has been around for centuries—it will always be around. Just seeing how over the last 250 years it has evolved, it’s not so different when you look at the original vs what we are producing as a more modern version,” she said. “It is a way to talk about our nation’s history in a lighter way.”
Find the Liberty Lager at a TALEA Beer Co. near you.
Dining and Cooking