Topic: Brewing History
1776 Porter
Digital and Plus Members OnlyA homebrewer goes back in time to brew an authentic American Colonial-style ale. Recipe included!
When Brown Stout was Stout
Digital and Plus Members OnlyLet us take you back to a time when stout was the brewery’s best porter. Today’s black stouts had their origins in yesterday’s stout brown porter. Find out everything — from brown malts to basic methods — to brewing this historic beer style. Plus: a recipe for an authentic 1820 stout.
Chancellor Ale
Digital and Plus Members OnlyCollege and beer go together like, well, college and beer. But did your college brew its own? For almost 600 years, Queen’s College at Oxford in England brewed an everyday ale and special yearly brew — Chancellor Ale. With an orginal gravity over 1.130, brewing Chancellor Ale is both a historical journey and a brewing challenge. Plus: extract and all-grain recipes
A History of Malt Extract
Digital and Plus Members OnlySet sail on a journey of new inventions, scurvy sailors and botched beer. It’s the (early) history of malt extract. Plus: historical extract recipes straight from Captain Cook!
Colonial Ale
Digital and Plus Members OnlyUsing a handwritten recipe unearthed at an eighteenth-century Virginia plantation, a homebrewer and archaeologist recreated Mrs. Cary’s Good Ale, a homemade, all-malt beer from a colonial kitchen.
American Beers and Prohibition
Digital and Plus Members OnlyAmerican beers, pre and post-Prohibition. The Wiz knows…
Reinheitsgebot: Behind the German Beer Purity Law
Digital and Plus Members OnlyThe Reinheitsgebot is more than an ad slogan. It’s a historical document that says a lot about the development of German-style brewing.
Searching for Medieval Ale
FREEToday’s homebrewer can recreate history with a few basic ingredients and a little imagination
Homebrewing During Prohibition
Digital and Plus Members OnlyThe reputation of homebrewers suffered during the Noble Experiment.
Julius Caesar’s Beer
Digital and Plus Members OnlyHistory tells us that Julius Caesar was stabbed in the back by Brutus in 44 BC. If everyone had just been a little patient, Caesar’s passion for a mug of beer would have killed him off without the mess of the Ides of March stabbing. In fact it was probably the Roman passion for a
16th Century Homebrewers
Digital and Plus Members OnlyBrewing takes on an historical flavor for members of the Mag Mor Brewers Guild, a branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Members of the SCA adopt personas, or characters, from the 16th century and earlier and re-create many aspects of the Middle Ages. The brewers bring to life medieval methods of brewing beer and
Revolutionary Brewing
Digital and Plus Members OnlyImagine the scene: a dimly-lit, chilly tavern in 18th century Boston, Philadelphia, or perhaps New York. The fire is blazing, occasionally sending cascades of spark and flame rocketing onto the hearth, almost in unison with the fiery rhetoric of revolution being whispered in hushed tones in a dark corner of the room. Clouds of Virginia