Keep Those Thirsty Pilgrims Happy
A few months ago I brewed a beer with a friend of mine that was an approximation (recreation) of the sort of beer that Benjamin Franklin might have drank back in his day. The beer was loosely based on the Poor Richard’s recipe by Tony Simmons (see my previous article here on The Spirit World). The friend I was brewing with was a history buff, so we did some research of our own and tweaked Simmons’s recipe as I saw fit. The most obvious thing about “historical” beer is that it contains a large quantity of what brewers call adjuncts.
Adjuncts are ingredients other than malt, water, barely, and hops. We also ran across some interesting historical tidbits about beer here in America. Just about every colonial household produced their own beer out of whatever ingredients grew best in their area. Beer was the beverage of choice, even for children, since the process of boiling the water used in making the beer sanitized the beer and made it safer to drink than water. People drank beer with every meal, including breakfast. Beer was so essential to colonial culture that the brewing of beer was one of the main concerns that early settlers had for survival.
I recently ran across a press release from Saint Arnold Brewing Company in Houston, Texas that gives a pretty good overview of what beers are most appropriate for Thanksgiving. I’d encourage you to take a look at the press release, but here are the points that I find most important when making your beer selection for this coming Thursday: (1) drink an American craft beer with the meal, preferably a locally brewed craft beer; (2) look for beers with adjuncts, such as wheat beers, beers containing maize (some American-style Pilsners contain maize), pumpkin beers, spiced beers, etc.; and (3) even if the beers you buy come in twelve ounce bottles, decant them into a pitcher for serving. Sharing a pitcher of beer on the Great Turkey Day is the best way of being thankful for the bounties of this New World.
[Note: The photo is of Brewery Ommegang’s Hennepin, a Saison-style ale brewed here in New York; it’s very possible that pitchers of this will be available at my house this Thursday. The text of this article is also available in audio format. To listen, click on the link to download the mp3 (1.1 MB, 2:30 mins).]
