Home of the BrewNosers

Hey there dudes and ladies and friends!

I'm TA'ing a course at Kings on the History of Brewing Science this semester.
One of the options for the student project is a reproduction of a historical recipe.

Historical can be anything from ancient Egyptian to early North American colonial (pre-1800)

I'm looking for some recipe inspiration, and am also wondering if you folks would be willing to field some of my beer questions on behalf of some curious undergrads.

My first thought is an Acadian Spruce Beer, as we can have a field trip to collect spruce tips.

Any other ideas?

Cheers!
H

Hello Helen:

There will be lots of expertise on here for all kinds of brewing. I have produced spruce beers several times and also assisted Big Spruce Brewing with their Spruce Tip IPA several times, which was originally produced to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Fortress of Louisburg.

My recipe is a more modern version with a nod to the tradition recipe. From what I have seen, historical spruce "beer" wasn't actually beer at all but fermented molasses boiled with spruce boughs.

I heard there were some records at the Fortress about using stale bread from the bakery in the making of spruce beer. Also, the use of spruce probably was taught to the french by the Mi'kamq as a way to prevent scurvy (spruce being high in vitamin C.) I am not sure who to contact there to find out more information, as this is second hand info I received.

Good luck!

Jason

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Question? Could a lot of the BJCP styles be classified as historical in that they have been brewed the same way for hundreds of years, or are styles that have been revived? What is the definition of historical please? Would be a good starting point for simple people like me. I wanted to respond to your post but wasn't sure of the definition. I think I may have a repertoire of many historical beers, such as my Bohemian Pils, but I'm not sure it meets the definition your course has provided. Also is there a standard definition of "historical beer" there may not be one. Thanks

Sorry I'm just waking up. I see you specified a definition. I'll need to think more if any of the BJCP beers meet the definition.

Ps. If it was me, I think I would go right back to the beginning and study the ancient Egyptian beer. It must have been pretty good stuff because it was the reason the people settled down and stopped being nomadic, and also what they paid the workers with who built the pyramids with. You might find some research leads here: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/how-beer ... the-world/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That would be the ultimate "historical recipes for noobs". They were the noobs, the very first beer makers.

I immediately think of the (now cancelled) TV show 'Brew Masters' which spent a couple of episodes on learning about (and re-creating) ancient/historical beer recipes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brew_Masters" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In particular the "Chicha" episode (involving all the brewery staff chewing corn and using spit to make the beer), and "Ancient Ale" (9000-year old recipe).

I think the pictures speak for themselves. Found them on the website for the Discovery World, where they did lectures for adults learning how to brew historical beer

On the oft chance that this hasn't been mentioned or you have yet to hear of Ron Pattinson's blog Shut up about barklay perkins (http://barclayperkins.blogspot.ca/) you should check it out. I went to one of his book tour talks last fall and he is a treasure trove of historical beer knowledge.

This set of links might be helpful: https://byo.com/brewing-history" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for all the help, folks.

Class was cancelled last week, and this board completely slipped my mind.

I'll pass on all the excellent suggestions!

I would use this book. My first batch didn't turn out but this book has changed my entire perspective on brewing and possibly my life!

https://archive.org/details/SacredAndHe ... rmentation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;