Basic Colonial Brewing — The Koelschip

The Regimental Brewmeister uses a 1 barrel brewery set up including a 30-gallon kieve (aka keeve) and a 30 gallon kühlschipp.(AKA koelschip).  As we strive for ever increasing levels of authenticity to both the beer and our experience brewing, this new equipment takes us back to the basics of 18th Century zymology. Modern breweries make …

Molly Pitcher Shandy

Molly Pitcher was the nickname of Mary Hays McCauley who is said to have carried water to American soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778, before taking over for her husband on the battlefield after he was no longer able to fight. Originally from Carlise Pennsylvania, Mary was married to William Hays …

Von Stueben Altbier

During the early American Revolutionary War, Continental Army lacked strong central command and was made up of state-run militias operating independently of each other. Each militia operated by its own rules and regulations and there was very little standardization or guidance for the duties and responsibilities of soldiers and officers.  In 1777, Friedrich von Steuben …

“Beer” Recipe: Dutch East India Company Cider

The Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), better known as the Dutch East India Company was set up in 1602 and head-quartered in the Oost-Indisch Huis (East-India House) in downtown Amsterdam as an official colonial agency. The company was given massive financial backing and the legal power to wage war, create overseas settlements, and uphold its own …

Benedict Arnold American Wild Ale

Do you consider Benedict Arnold a brilliant general or an evil traitor?  Despite what you may have learned in school, the answer to this question is far from simple and highly political.   Blessed with almost superhuman energy and endurance, handsome and charismatic, he was a successful apothecary and a seagoing merchant before the war.  Unfortunately, …

Beer Recipe — Privateer Abby Triple Ale

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 …

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 …

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.  …