Okay, TECHNICALLY this is not a beer. According to Reinheitsgebot, beer must be made with malted BARLEY and this beer uses corn but AMERICAN beer is often made with whatever grain is available. I have dedicated this to the Whiskey Rebellion. During the American Revolution, individual states incurred significant debt. In 1790 Treasury Secretary Alexander …
Continue reading ““Beer” Recipe — Whiskey Rebellion Corn Beer”
For years, I have eschewed the idea of having a Facebook account. It seems very narcissistic and I am not going to go there constantly to post my “feelings” or other personal things. But I recently joined 1NJV and they use this as their primary means of communication so I will add it to mine. …
Sadly, I spent very little time on the cooking side of the Cast Iron Chef event but the brewing was VERY SUCCESSFUL. We had ten journeyman brewers who were very hands on (see photos below). We also debuted the new 1 bbl brewing set-up. I spent a significant amount of time (and money) building new …
Maps of land surfaces and charts of the sea coasts are scaled down representations of the earth’s surface. They are ideal documents to prove that a discovery has taken place and provide the means for the exploration to be repeated by others. They are tremendous assets to the military and are a great aid to …
Continue reading “A Short History of Mapmaking in the Americas”
Beer was once considered the most health drink to give to children and vital to survival. To understand this, you must first understand that centuries of dense urban living had left the water in Europe unsafe to drink. People of the 18th Century did not understand why but they did observe that people who drank …
Continue reading “Basic Colonial Brewing #2 — Brewing in the 18th Century”
During the 1700’s, executions in France were public events where entire towns gathered to watch. A common execution method for a poor criminal was quartering, where the prisoner’s limbs were tied to four oxen, then the animals were driven in four different directions ripping the person apart. Upper-class criminals could buy their way into a …
Yesterday, I was dismayed at the lack of stocking in my local Giant supermarket. Voltaire once remarked that Parisians required only “the comic opera and white bread.” But bread has also played a dark role in French history and, namely, the French Revolution. The storming of the medieval fortress of Bastille on July 14, 1789 …
Continue reading “Supply Chain Issues? — The Bread Famine in 18th-century France.”
One day after being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention, King Louis XVI is executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris. Louis ascended to the French throne in 1774 and from the start was unsuited to deal with the severe financial problems …
This weekend in Cast Iron Chef and February 5th is The Curious Case of Lt Boddy… Here is the TV preview… https://www.fox29.com/video/1025860 https://www.fox29.com/video/1025890
History books are filled with glorification of exploits on the battlefield and we have all heard the story of Alexander Hamilton bristling at the role of Aide-du-Camp and demanding his opportunity to prove himself in the field. The reality of military operations, however, is very different. Much of the real WORK of a military commander …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 