THE TELEGRAPH - A handwritten recipe for "small beer" created by Washington in 1757, while serving in the Virginia militia, has been published by the New York Public Library. The recipe, which was found in Washington's "Notebook as a Virginia Colonel", lists the ingredients as bran hops, yeast and molasses – an addition that may explain his infamously rotten teeth.
"Take a large Sifter full of Bran Hops to your Taste," Washington instructed. "Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall into a cooler [and] put in 3 Gall Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot." "Let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yeast if the Weather is very Cold [then] cover it over with a Blanket & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask".
A 15-gallon batch of Washington's beer is to be made to mark the library's centenary by the Coney Island Brewing Company, under the name "Fortitude's Founding Father Brew".
While half the batch will stay faithful to Washington's original recipe, the other half will contain malted barley instead of molasses, which may make it more palatable to modern drinkers.
Take that, Sam Adams! Get me bran hops, yeast and molasses immediately. If it's good enough for the man on the dollar bill it's good enough for me. This must be the stuff that carried the Minutemen through those harsh winters and gave them the liquid balls to beat down the Redcoats. This is just the kind of thing that gets a Bahtendah goin' on a Friday. Splendid, by George!
