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Hop Water Let’s start this article out with an absolute disclaimer. THIS IS NOT A COLONIAL BEVERAGE, it’s a very modern 21st Century invention but still fun. You won’t see the Regimental Brewmeister serving this or making it at demonstrations but sometimes we drink this at home. Most of us…

submitted 13 hours ago • 1 comment

Our Nation’s Oldest Friend is in the Arabic-speaking Muslim world Recently there has been a lot of unjustified animosity against Islam and its followers. As we enter the month of Ramadan, the month when our Muslim brothers celebrate Muhammad's revelation of the first verses the Quran, it is…

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

ITS TODAY! — The Admiral of the Blue Apron will run this year’s Cannonball Tavern at Fort Mifflin Saturday, April 19th6:00 pm - 10:00 pm While few Officers’ Clubs survived the Cold War, we are going to bring back the tradition at Fort Mifflin this year. Military Officers' clubs date back to the…

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Come to Crooked Billet and Learn to Survey Saturday, April 26, 202510 am - 4pmKeith Valley Middle School227 Meetinghouse Rd, Horsham, PA In my persona as "David Rittenhouse," I will be conducting hands-on surveying demonstrations at this years Crooked Billet History Fair in Horsham. The first…

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Taverns are Essential to Democracy The Catamount Tavern in the future Old Bennington, served as the headquarters for the Green Mountain Boys. This militia was formed to resist New York’s attempt to control the New Hampshire Grants which eventually became the State of Vermont after the…

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Historical Tidbits — The Midnight Ride When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. April 18, 1775 The Midnight Ride of William Dawes and Paul Revere. Thanks to Longfellow, hardly a scholar or…

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Anna Strong May not Have Been a Spy During the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, Washington, then commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, was repeatedly surprised by the British. He only escaped the destruction of his army thanks to fog, adverse winds that blocked the British fleet from…

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

The Regimental Brewmeister does “Talks” as well as brewing demonstrations. The Regimental Brewmeister is happy to give talks and lectures at your site to audiences of any size. I ask that you provide appropriate auto visual projection equipment and event promotion. I typically come in 18th Century…

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Join the Regimental Brewmeister People are always welcome to come to my events and if you come in 18th Century kit, you can be part of the program or just hang out in the tent as you see fit. However, if you are truly interested in really learning the process, teaching the public, and being the…

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Historical Tidbits — Abolish Slavery! When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. April 14, 1775 The Society for the Relief of the Free Negros Unlawfully Held in Bondage first meets in…

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

I’m Back! — The Admiral of the Blue Apron will run this year’s Cannonball Tavern at Fort Mifflin Saturday, April 19th6:00 pm - 10:00 pm While few Officers’ Clubs survived the Cold War, we are going to bring back the tradition at Fort Mifflin this year. Military Officers' clubs date back to the…

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Come to Crooked Billet and Learn to Survey Saturday, April 26, 202510 am - 4pmKeith Valley Middle School227 Meetinghouse Rd, Horsham, PA In my persona as "David Rittenhouse," I will be conducting hands-on surveying demonstrations at this years Crooked Billet History Fair in Horsham. The first…

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Beer Recipe: 3/5th Compromise Brown Ale Are you a Constitutional Originalist? Do you hold that the US Constitution must be followed EXACTLY as the framers intended when they wrote it? Some in our country hold that the provisions in the US Constitution are perfect and complete guidelines for how…

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Basic Colonial Brewing: More on Decoctions Brewers today have access to highly-modified malts. We also have modern tools like thermometers which were prohibitively expensive luxuries not available to brewers in the 18th Century. This means the process of extracting sugars from the grains through…

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Freedom Means NOTHING Unless You Also Embrace Tolerance Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others. John F Kennedy As Americans we focus a lot on our Constitutional Freedoms. Frankly, we are far more enthralled with…

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

US Marines in the American Revolution — A Marine Lieutenant Dies 6 April 1776 The voyage northward following the raid on New Providence was routine. An hour into the midnight watch on 6 April 1776, however, the situation changed ; two unidentified sails were sighted to the southeast. All hands…

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Could one of our Founding Fathers have been a Jew? While writing the blog on Chanukah in Colonial America, I came across some lectures and articles by Andrew Porwancher, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, who has an interesting hypothesis. It seems that while researching the early life of…

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Exposing Spies William Wickham was Britain’s first Master Spy and head of the British Secret Service. Wickham was also the focus of a massive government scandal and Parliamentary investigation when it was found that millions of pounds in taxpayer’s money had been funneled to Wickham and then…

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Historical Tidbits — SUGAR ACT When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. April 5, 1764 – SUGAR ACT Sugar Act, also called Molasses Act, the Plantation Act or the Revenue Act, was passed by…

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

Not the First Library but Perhaps the Best In 1727, Benjamin Franklin and several friends established a “club of mutual improvement” called the Junto which met in a Philadelphia alehouse each Friday evening. There they held lively discussions of politics, morals and philosophy. Eventually, they…

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

Historical Tidbits — Congress establishes the US Mint When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. April 2, 1792 Congress establishes the US Mint in Philadelphia. On April 2, 1792 Congress…

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

April Fools — Part 3 What do you call someone who’s fallen for a prank? In most English-speaking places, you’d probably just call them gullible. But in France, you might use the term poisson d’avril (“April fish.”) The centuries-old name is linked to a 1508 poem by Renaissance composer and writer…

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

April Fools — Part 2 In my last post, I picked on Boston because, well its Boston. But stupid laws are not a Massachusetts thing. Let’s look a little closer to home. Here are a few from Pennsylvania: It is illegal to catch a fish by any body part other than the mouth. There’s also a law forbidding…

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

April Fools The origins behind April Fool’s Day are a little sketchy but it is generally understood that it started back in 1582. That was the year that France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian but communication was slow and unreliable so, not everyone switched at the same time.…

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

The DUTCH East India Company The Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), better known as the Dutch East India Company was set up in 1602 and head-quartered in the Oost-Indisch Huis (East-India House) in downtown Amsterdam, which still stands today. The company was first company to officially…

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

The Stone Fence The Catamount Tavern in the future Old Bennington, served as the headquarters for the Green Mountain Boys. This militia was formed to resist New York’s attempt to control the New Hampshire Grants which eventually became the State of Vermont after the Revolution. As these regional…

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

I’m Back! — The Admiral of the Blue Apron will run this year’s Cannonball Tavern at Fort Mifflin Saturday, April 19th6:00 pm - 10:00 pm While few Officers’ Clubs survived the Cold War, we are going to bring back the tradition at Fort Mifflin this year. Military Officers' clubs date back to the…

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

I’m Back! — The Admiral of the Blue Apron will run this year’s Cannonball Tavern at Fort Mifflin Saturday, April 19th6:00 pm - 10:00 pm While few Officers’ Clubs survived the Cold War, we are going to bring back the tradition at Fort Mifflin this year. Military Officers' clubs date back to the…

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Come to Crooked Billet and Learn to Survey Saturday, April 26, 202510 am - 4pmKeith Valley Middle School227 Meetinghouse Rd, Horsham, PA In my persona as "David Rittenhouse," I will be conducting hands-on surveying demonstrations at this years Crooked Billet History Fair in Horsham. The first…

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Historical Tidbits — SIEGE OF CHARLESTON When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. March 29, 1780 – SIEGE OF CHARLESTON: After approximately six weeks of siege, Major General Benjamin…

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Basic Colonial Brewing #17 — Make an 18th Century Toast “To drink at a table without drinking to the health of someone special, should be considered drinking on the sly, and as an act of incivility.” Throughout history, toasting began after a meal and could last for hours. Toasts would solidify…

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

Join the Regimental Brewmeister People are always welcome to come to my events and if you come in 18th Century kit, you can be part of the program or just hang out in the tent as you see fit. However, if you are truly interested in really learning the process, teaching the public, and being the…

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

An 18th Century Laptop? In the 21st Century, I carry a laptop computer everywhere I go. You see, as an educated person, I generally work with my mind and for that to have any meaning whatsoever, I must communicate those thoughts, ideas, analyses, and such to others. While far fewer people were…

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Does Anybody Know what Day it Really is? 1752 was a really Bizarre Year. In accordance with a 1750 act of Parliament, England and its colonies changed calendars in 1752. By that time, the discrepancy between a solar year and the Julian Calendar had grown by an additional day, so that the calendar…

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

I Need Your Help! I need your help with the Moland House. This will be my second year planning the annual reenactment at Moland House. Last year, I took reins of organizing the event after Jo-Anne Mullen has decided to step down from organizing the event. We've had some growing pains trying to…

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Precedent for the Stamp Act We are all familiar with The Stamp Act of 1765 which was a tax on all paper documents levied on American colonists in order to pay off debt from the Seven Years' War (1756-63). Coming in the midst of economic hardship in the colonies, the Stamp Act aroused vehement…

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Give me LIBERTY or give me DEATH! Patrick Henry was a Virginia-born lawyer and skilled orator who was unreservedly passionate about American freedom. The outspoken Henry delivered his fiery “Liberty or Death” speech on March 23, 1775, famously concluding with a challenge: "I know not what course…

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Historical Tidbits — Give me Liberty or Give me Death! When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. March 23, 1775 – Patrick Henry addressed the Virginia Legislature with a rousing speech – “I…

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Extreme Measures In 1848, Henry Brown was a Virginia slave with a wife and three children. When the plantation owner sold Brown’s wife and children to another slave owner, and Brown could do nothing to stop it, he began to plan his escape to Philadelphia. While many American slaves viewed the…

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Planters’ or Jamaica Punch Planters or Jamaica Punch begins with the Hibiscus sabdariffa, often called roselle, a plant indigenous to continental Africa that now flourishes in tropical regions of the Western hemisphere. The punch gets its name because the main ingredient, the hibiscus plant, was…

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Historical Tidbits — STAMP ACT When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. March 22, 1765 STAMP ACT The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by…

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

Historical Tidbits — MASSACRE AT HANCOCK’s BRIDGE When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. March 21, 1778 – MASSACRE AT HANCOCK’s BRIDGE In Thomas Fleming’s novel, Liberty Tavern, there is a…

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

Unfiltered Beer is Good for You! For thousands of years beer served as food and medicine; it had antiseptic, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. The health benefits of beer not only come from the grains and yeast but also the hops. Hops contain a flavonoid called xanthohumol that strongly…

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

To the Last Extremity – Spruce Ale Americans love the idea of a last stand, a battle to the end. We see this in the Battle of Bunker Hill, WE see this during the War of 1812 at both Fort McHenry and at Chalmette, Louisiana, we see this during the Texas Revolution at the Alamo, at the Little Big…

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

The Irish in the American Revolution It was coincidence only that Evacuation Day in Boston and St. Patrick’s Day fell on the same date. No one appreciated this concurrence more than George Washington who surrounded himself with officers of Irish birth, an whose army was estimated to be at least…

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

Historical Tidbits — British Retreat from Boston When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. March 17, 1776 – EVACUATION DAY: Following a protracted siege by the Continental Army, and the…

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

An extra punchbowl for Cannonball Tavern Okay, share your opinion. I have an extra punch bowl available for the Cannonball Tavern at Fort Mifflin (April 19). Please let me know which of these options most appeals to you: Want to have the Regimental Brewmeister at your site or event? You can hire…

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

I’m Back! — The Admiral of the Blue Apron will run this year’s Cannonball Tavern at Fort Mifflin Saturday, April 19th6:00 pm - 10:00 pm While few Officers’ Clubs survived the Cold War, we are going to bring back the tradition at Fort Mifflin this year. Military Officers' clubs date back to the…

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

Beer Recipe: Air and Exercise — Rattleskull "Air and Exercise" = being whipped with a Cat-o-Nine-Tails. Prior to the arrival of Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, American officers often imitated their British peers. In a rather startling example, George Washington once lobbied congress for…

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments

How was Colonial Beer Different We recently held a brewing class at Fort Mifflin and one question was asked that deserves clarification in this blog: "How were beers of the 18th Century different from what we drink today?" I hope the table below adds some clarification. Colonial Beers vs Modern…

submitted 37 days ago • 0 comments