Another historic American beer

Yesterday I wrote about the revival of George Washington's recipe for 'small beer'. An e-mail from an anonymous reader today informed me that another historic Presidential beer recipe has recently been in the news.

Thomas Jefferson is renowned for his many interests, including architecture, horticulture and inventing gadgets.

Among the third president's lesser-known pursuits was making beer, and modern-day visitors to his mountaintop estate at Monticello can soon get a taste of the past.

The Thomas Jefferson Foundation says it's working with Starr Hill Brewery in Crozet to offer Monticello Reserve Ale, inspired by what was produced and consumed regularly at Monticello. Brewing beer was among the plantation's important activities, and the drink was one of the "table liquors" served with meals, Monticello officials said.




Starr Hill's master brewer Mark Thompson will brew Monticello Reserve Ale using a combination of lightly hopped wheat and corn, as Jefferson did in his day. Local ingredients will be used, including some hops grown at Monticello.

"It's different from beers today," Monticello spokeswoman Lisa Stites said Thursday. "We wanted to make it a little more modern, too, so people would enjoy it."

Thompson calls the unfiltered wheat-style beer "very light on the palate with a clean finish," with citrus and earthy aromas.

. . .

Jefferson's beer-making records date back to 1772, when his wife, Martha, oversaw periodic brewing. The enterprise produced 15-gallon casks of low-alcohol beer about every two weeks, then expanded its scale with some outside help.

According to records, Monticello's brewhouse was built by 1814, five years after he ended his presidency.

"I am lately become a brewer for family use, having had the benefit of instruction to one of my people by an English brewer of the first order," Jefferson writes in a letter in 1815 to another brewer, Joseph Coppinger.

The British beer maker, Capt. Joseph Miller, who was stranded in Albemarle County during the War of 1812, helped Jefferson improve the quality and quantity of Monticello's beer, according to Monticello officials. Miller introduced ale, which contained more alcohol and was better suited for storage.

Miller also trained slave Peter Hemings in the craft of malting and brewing. Hemings, who also was proficient in French cooking, continued the brewing tasks, making 100 gallons of ale every spring and fall, when malting and brewing conditions were best.

There's more at the link. Here's a video report on the launch of Monticello Reserve Ale.

Apparently the beer is restricted to sale at Monticello at present. Later this year it'll be available throughout Virginia, and will be distributed more widely next year. I'll have to try it sometime (purely out of historical interest, you understand . . . hic!).

Peter