Beer is one of the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drinks in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. An ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll from 5,000 BC contains a recipe for beer, and its longevity as a beverage attests to the fact that most people find drinking beer quite pleasurable. Many go a step beyond mere enjoyment and seek out information about beer’s history and manufacturing process.
In keeping with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (CW) and its commitment to history and education, they host Ales Through the Ages, a conference which features top beer scholars, historians, authors and makers. Registrants will gather November 11th for a three-day exploration of ancient ales and indigenous beers of the past. It is a time where they will examine the origins of brewing and study the beverage’s societal impact. With both in-person and online streaming options available through CW’s exclusive platform, attendees will have the opportunity to hear expert speakers (a beer archeologist, anybody?) and observe demonstrations of brewing techniques from the seventeenth century to the present. It promises to be an experience that true aficionados will never forget, a fully immersive study and celebration of all things beer.
Courtesy of David M. Doody for The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Frank Clark, Melissa Blank and Barbara Scherer straining the grain out of the mash.
Frank Clark, Master of Historical Food Programs at CW, is excited at the prospect of the coming conference. “Most people have no idea of what beer is and how it’s made,” Frank says. “That’s why we do this. They might be able to name one or two of the ingredients, but that’s usually it. This gives us an opportunity to not only talk about beer in the eighteenth century, but how important it’s been throughout history.”
According to Clark, civilized populations made the switch from being hunter-gatherers to farmers in order to grow grain for bread and beer. In earliest times, beer was often made from a half-baked version of bread, so there was a close connection between farmers and bakers and brewers. Yeast was then their common denominator, but presently the strains used in each category are totally disparate.
Clark, sleeves rolled up and apron tied in place, is dressed in garb suitable for brewing up an autumnal batch of Colonial Williamsburg Brown Ale. He works over an open fire in the recreated kitchen adjacent the Governor’s Palace, brandishing a long-handled wooden rake used for stirring the contents of a wooden tub of hot mash as it steeps. Though Clark has brewed this ale many times with period equipment, it is not for sale to the millions of visitors to Colonial Williamsburg because of the limited quantities. Instead, anyone can purchase an adaptation of this brew under the name of Colonial Williamsburg Old Stitch Brown Ale, and another called Dear Old Mum which are made under an agreement with the local Alewerks Brewing Company.
As a professional and a longtime home brewer himself, the subject of creating a delicious beverage from simple and readily available ingredients has always been fascinating to Clark. Why did the first European settlers prefer making beer from barley rather than other grains such as wheat and rye? While the latter are sometimes used, to this day barley is considered the ideal cereal grain for malting and, ultimately, brewing. It is self-contained, having a husk to protect the germ, high starch-to-protein ratio for high yields, a complete enzyme system, self-adjusting pH, light color, and neutral flavor.
The brewing process starts with a good malt, often called the “heart” of beer. Malted barley provides complex carbohydrates and sugars necessary for fermentation, as well as flavors and colors that are uniquely characteristic of beer. Malt is made when barley grains are first soaked and sprouted, then dried or roasted at a high temperature. To this day, though it uses different equipment, malting remains basically a three-step process: steeping, germination, and drying. Joining Clark as one of the speakers at CW’s Ales Through the Ages will be Andrea Stanley, a micro- maltster from Massachusetts, who will give demonstrations of eighteenth century malting techniques.
The brewer takes the malt that has been created by the maltster, cracks it by grinding it lightly, and then soaks it in hot water. As it steeps, it finishes a chemical process that is converting complex carbohydrates to simple sugars. The mash is then drained, and in the next step the resulting hot liquid (known as wort) is combined with hops to boil. After boiling the wort, the brewer strains the hops and cools the liquid, then adds yeast to begin fermentation. At this point it becomes beer.
What are hops, one may ask? They are female flowers or cones of the hop vine Humulus lupulus, a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. A cousin of cannabis, hops might have made a beloved brew even more so had it possessed its relative’s psychoactive THC. Even as it is, hops still contain acids and oils that impart bitterness to balance out the sweetness of the grain, as well as adding unique regional flavors and aromas ranging from floral to fruity or citrus. “Hops also have a preservative effect,” Clark says. “The shelf life of beer improved dramatically after recipes began to include them.”
Early beer brewing was mostly done in small batches by housewives and was meant for her own family’s consumption. Everybody drank beer, including the children, as it was then considered more as a safe and nutritious food. The youngest members of the household drank the weaker, low-alcohol brew that came from second and third mashings of the grain.
In colonial Virginia, persimmon ale was especially popular among the colony’s indentured servants and enslaved people who worked the plantations. After only several days of fermentation, the resulting beverage was said to be clear, light-colored, and fizzy. During the symposium, author Lee Graves will explore the connection between early American brewing and the West African beer traditions of enslaved populations. For a deep look at American beer making history, Craig Gravina will take conference participants on a journey through 400 Years of Beer and Brewing in New York’s Hudson Valley.
The oldest documentary evidence of beer making in the New World originates from Jamestown. In 1609, the Virginia Company began placing ads in London newspapers looking for experienced brewers to come to Jamestown. In expectation of their arrival in Virginia, barley had been planted and was ripe for the harvest, so no time was lost when the men arrived at their new home. By 1632, the first commercial brewery in the U.S. opened in Manhattan and was run by the Dutch West India company, since the Dutch still controlled “New Amsterdam” at the time.
In the late 1750s, George Washington inscribed a recipe, “To make Small Beer”, in the notebook he carried as colonel of the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War. The manuscript, now in the New York Public Library’s collections, suggests that Washington wrote down the recipe around 1757, when he was 25 years old and stationed in central Pennsylvania. “Small beer,” as opposed to typical beer, is notable for its low alcohol content. The recipe’s inclusion in Washington’s wartime notebook suggests that it was used as a regular beverage for troops. Although they did not yet understand the connection, water sources were frequently contaminated, and boiling water during brewing renders it safe for consumption, making beer crucial for well-hydrated, battle-ready soldiers.
Courtesy of David M. Doody for The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
At Mount Vernon beer was a favorite tipple, but the Washington family would not have consumed small beer such as this molasses beer recipe or served it to their guests. Instead, it was given to paid servants, enslaved people, and children, while its finer, more alcoholic counterpart made from malted barley was reserved for the rich. The Mount Vernon website includes the basic recipe but recommends a few tweaks to suit the modern palate in case home brewers care to duplicate it. The three gallons of molasses called for in the recipe was likely needed to provide sugars for the yeast to eat in addition to the grain flavor provided by the wheat bran. Molasses is a thick, dark syrup rich in fermentable carbohydrates which is made from sugarcane and was also the raw material used for rum, sometimes added to beer for an extra kick. Colonial Williamsburg’s Clark has made a version of this molasses beer several times and pronounces it “surprisingly beer-like if you boil the molasses for a while.”
TO MAKE SMALL BEER
Take a large Siffer full of Bran
Hops to your taste - Boil these
3 hours. Then strain out 30 Gall[ons]
into a Cooler[.] put in 3 Gall[ons]
molasses while the Beer is
scalding hot or rather draw the
molasses into the Cooler & strain
the Beer on it while boiling Hot[.]
let this stand till it is little more
than Blood warm then put in
a quart of Ye[a]st[.] if the Weather is
very Cold cover it over with a Blank[et]
& let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours
then put it into the Cask - leave
the Bung open till it is almost done
working - Bottle it that day week
it was Brewed[.]
In order to help finance the Civil War effort, the federal government passed the Internal Revenue Act of 1862 which first taxed beer at the rate of one dollar per barrel. Despite taxation and shocking present-day concession prices at sporting events, Americans have always loved their beer, and today our national consumption ranks second only to China’s, which with its 1.3 billion people has 4.5 times the population. Breweries in the United States churned out approximately 181 million barrels of beer in 2021. Add to that the production of countless home brewing operations, and it is clear that beer is not just a beverage, it is central to our culture.
As with any iconic culture, beer comes with its own specialized vocabulary, and those new to or unfamiliar with it are sometimes confused by the terms used. Just what exactly makes beer an ale? What is a “head” and is it desirable? Porter, stout, pilsner, IPA, lager…what’s the difference and what do I like? If you cannot make it to the conference, the next best way to educate yourself is to patronize one of Williamsburg’s many local breweries such as The Virginia Beer Company (one of the sponsors of Ales Through the Ages) and ask questions. You will be at the right place to find people who are passionate about their product and more than happy to share that passion with others. Pretty soon you and your palate will be educated, and along the way you may just find new friends who welcome you by name into the age-old Culture of Quaff!
Ales Through the Ages in-person registration is $275 per person and includes access to lectures, the welcome reception, and the Saturday lunch. Virtual-only registration is $100 per person and includes access to lectures through the conference streaming platform. Both in-person and virtual-only registration includes a seven-day ticket voucher to Colonial Williamsburg’s Art Museums and Historic Area, valid for redemption through May 31, 2023. For information, visit the conference website or contact educationalconferences@cwf.org
or 1-800-603-0948.