In 1757, a colonel in the Virginia militia recorded the way that thirsty soldiers had made a DIY beverage with some water, hops, and molasses. The colonel: George Washington. Yes, the father of our country recorded instructions for making a very stiff beer. God bless America! Today, a mile and a half from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Yards Brewing Company has resurrected old George’s directions. It’s one of the brews in its Ales of the Revolution series, an homage to a time when our forefathers were creating a more perfect union—while getting drunk off their ass. But re-creating centuries-old formulas takes some detective work. And a liver of steel. “The beers back then tended to be very strong,” Yards founder Tom Kehoe says. Here’s how the recipes were revived.

General Washington’s Tavern Porter Kehoe found Washington’s formula for this brew favored by Colonial troops at the New York Public Library. “They’d drink half of a cask of porter, then add warm molasses and water steeped with bran oats,” he says. “In a few days, it’s carbonated beer.” Yards uses a similar method—minus the drinking, of course.

Poor Richard’s Tavern Spruce Ale Based on Ben Franklin’s recipe for spruce-based beer, which Kehoe found a copy of at a museum. It was great for warding off scurvy—spruce is high in vitamin C—but it tastes terrible. To get the smell of Christmas without the taste of Pine-Sol, Yards steeps spruce and needles in the kettle late in the boil.

Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale Kehoe studied the excavations of Jefferson’s beer cellar and pored over his farm records to reverse-engineer a fruity barley wine with a bracing 8 percent alcohol by volume. But Jefferson would scoff: His version was almost 13. The cofounder of the Democratic-Republican Party was a party animal.



