“Beer” Recipe — Whiskey Rebellion Corn Beer

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 …

THE BILL OF RIGHTS: A BRIEF HISTORY #1

Insurrections often are propagated upon misinformation.   So too are the most recent band of domestic terrorist who like to hide behind our most sacred American institutions.  In this series, I want to explore the Bill of Rights and why some of the hype and hyperbole thrown around by the extremist is not just wrong but …

Basic Colonial Brewing #2 — Brewing in the 18th Century

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 …

The original “Doctor Death”

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 …

Historical Tidbits — Louis XVI Guillotined

When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. January 21, 1793               Louis XVI Guillotined In October 1789, a mob marched on Versailles and forced the royal couple to move to Tuileries; in June 1791, opposition to the …

Historical Tidbits — Pompton Mutiny

When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. January 20, 1781               Pompton Mutiny — revolt of New Jersey troops On January 20, about 200-300 of the soldiers at Pompton mutinied. According to eyewitness accounts, they were also …

A Short History of Mapmaking in the Americas

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 …

Second Annual Cast Iron Chef at Fort Mifflin

On January 28th, Fort Mifflin on the Delaware (www.fortmifflin.us) and the Regimental Brewmeister (www.colonialbrewer.com) will be conducting a very unique program at Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia.  This is our second annual Cast Iron Chef program and it promises to be spectacular.  Cast Iron Chef is an opportunity our guest to gain hands on experience working …

Dirty Business and Politics are Often Bedfellows

We all think of Benjamin Franklin as a grandfatherly type who invented and published things, sort of that eccentric neighbor who was everyone’s friend, but there was a ruthless side to Franklin.  In 1728, a printer named Samuel Keimer founded the Pennsylvania Gazette, the second newspaper ever printed in the colony. It did not do …