For hundreds of years, the Totonac people, who lived on the east-central coast of Mexico, have grown and harvested the Tlilxochitl vine, an orchid that can only grow in very specific climates. In the mid 1400’s the Aztecs conquered the Totonac people and forced them to provide regular tributes. These tributes included the fruits of …
Continue reading “The Regimental Brewmeister’s Vanilla Extract”
While Washington, D.C., is the U.S. capitol we’re most familiar with today, it’s far from the country’s first. In fact, it came at the end of a long road. When the Second Continental Congress declared the independence of the United States of America in 1776, its home base at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence …
Continue reading “Washington, D.C. is Actually, the Ninth Capitol of the USA”
The Continental Congress declared independence from Great Britian in July 1776 but George Washington was not inaugurated as President until April 30, 1789 (13 years later). During the Revolutionary War (1774 – 1783) the states acted largely as independent nations and the only real role that he Continential Congress had was the prosecution of the …
The word “wassail” appears as early as the 8th century in the poem Beowulf. Originally, it was used as salutatory gesture (wassail!) from Old Norse ves heill “be healthy.” By the 12th Century, Wassail was used as a drinking salutation, similar to the use of “Cheers” or “Probst” today, and his use seems to have …
I have a new revision of my bartender’s guide entitled Admiral of the Blue Apron’s Bartender’s Guide Book which will replace the Thee Fort Mifflin Bartenders’ Guide Book: A View into Colonial Era Spirits and Cocktails from Amazon. It contains several significant updates so if you don’t have a copy yet, consider buying one for …
Continue reading “Support your Regimental Brewmeister — Buy a Book”
George Washington owned enslaved people from age eleven until his death. At the time, large-scale tobacco planting was carried out by enslaved labor. Large portions of the social, political, and economic society of colonial Virginia revolved making full use of enslaved labor and the buying and selling enslaved people. Washington made no official public statements on slavery or emancipation as …
Continue reading “The Scourge of Slavery (#9) — George Washington as a Slave holder”
There are 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, and (roughly) 365 days in a year. There are 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute. You probably knew all that. But you know it because you’ve committed it to memory — it’s not something you can reason out. …
Okay, I don’t give away bottles but you may have noticed that every bottle and every keg have a QR code on it and its not a SKU because I am not selling beer outside of events and I am not that sophisticated in my inventory management. So, what are these? Well, brewing beer is, …
Continue reading “Hey Brewmeister, why are there all those QR codes on your bottles and kegs?”
“Coow woow” was an Indian term for rum, and this makes sense since most of the drink is rum. The history of the Coow Woow is a bit murky but the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA claims it dates back to the early days of 1664 making it one of if not the first cocktail …
If you were traveling through Colonial New England, chances are the drink of choice is Rum Flip, which is quite a treat to see prepared with vigorous mixing and a final heating using a long metal rod known as a loggerhead or in the south a mulling iron. Flip was a common hot cocktail made …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 