In the summer of 1775, George Washington and the fledgling Continental Army was unable to effectively lay siege to British-occupied Boston because the Royal Navy had a firm command of the sea-lanes and the harbor. All George Washington could do was observe the flow of enemy supplies into Boston harbor and wondered if intercepting a …
Category Archives: Brewing
Doctor Heal Thyself — 18th Century Medicine Gone Wrong
Isaac Newton Stuck a Needle in His Own Eye Isaac Newton voluntarily stuck a needle in his eye in the name of science. The experiment was designed to test optics and color perception. He thought that if he slid a long needle behind his eyeball, between the eye and the eye socket, and started poking, his vision would …
Continue reading “Doctor Heal Thyself — 18th Century Medicine Gone Wrong”
Beer Recipe: Battle of the Kegs — British Brown Ale
With my focus on 18th Century brewing, don’t generally brew extract beers any more but this was the proverbial deal I could not refuse — FREE MALT. You see there was this guy who was cleaning out his homebrew supplies. I learned about him because I was in the market for an old fashion alcohol …
Continue reading “Beer Recipe: Battle of the Kegs — British Brown Ale”
Early Italian Divorce
In 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was working on his requiem mass when he fell seriously ill. From his deathbed, Mozart declared, “I feel definitely that I will not last much longer; I am sure that I have been poisoned.” He went on to claim, “Someone has given me acqua tofana and calculated the precise time of my death.” Mozart …
UPCOMING EVENT
Colonial Brewing during Fall FestColonial Pennsylvania Plantation3900 N. Sandy Flash Drive Ridley Creek State Park Newtown Square, PA 19073September 30, 202311:00am – 4:00pm Okay, it looks like we will be soaked today but only showers tomorrow. The brewery is loaded up and soon to be on its way to Ridley Park. Tomorrow, I plan to …
UPCOMING EVENT
Colonial Brewing during Fall FestColonial Pennsylvania Plantation3900 N. Sandy Flash Drive Ridley Creek State Park Newtown Square, PA 19073September 30, 202311:00am – 4:00pm Celebrate the fall season with Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation’s Fall Fest on Saturday, September 30! Enjoy colonial brewing by the Regimental Brewmeister demonstration, cider pressing, pottery making by Wallingford Potters Guild , music …
Why is it called “giving a toast?” — Where’s the bread?
Toasting is an ancient tradition which connotes celebration and good times. Today toasting remains an important practice in many cultures around the world. But why do we call it a toast? How exactly does the word “toast,” as in dry bread, figure into festive drinking? Well, it turns out dunking literal pieces of toast into …
Continue reading “Why is it called “giving a toast?” — Where’s the bread?”
Making Whiskey
Whiskey’s origin lies somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200 AD when traveling monks migrating across Europe, introduced the distillation practice into Scotland and Ireland. Because of the lack of vineyards in these countries, the monasteries turned to fermenting grain mashes and then distilling them into whiskey. For the next 400 years, whiskey spread throughout the Celtic countries. …
There has always been a loophole for the elite.
Okay, I have been on a 21st Amendment stream today and this is clearly NOT an 18thg Century topic but it is germane to the Regimental Brewmeister because after the MAGA folks have outlawed abortion and reading, their next targets will be marijuana and alcohol. So, toughen up your self-publishing, weed growing, and brewing skills …
Continue reading “There has always been a loophole for the elite.”
Why did I learn to make beer, wine, and distilled spirits?
People come up to me constantly with this question: “How did you learn to brew?” The short answer – at home – is trivial. The question I want answer is “why did I learn to brew/distill/make wine?” Even though I was born decades after its repeal, I learned to brew as a direct result of …
Continue reading “Why did I learn to make beer, wine, and distilled spirits?”
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 