Second Gen (2003-2016, 2016- )
A portion of a 1640s lease to Philip Gerritsen of a house to be used as a tavern. Click. On the 22nd of March 1639, Cornelis van Tienhoven, secretary in New Netherland on behalf of the General Chartered West India Company received Gillis Pietersen van der Gouw, a 27 year old master carpenter who … Continue reading “The Sensible Regulation Of Beer In New Netherlands”
That image up there has little to do directly with this post. It’s from a book entitled A Short Economic and Social History of the Lake Counties, 1500-1830 by C.Murray, L.Bouch and G.Peredur. It popped into my Google search results as an answer to the query “William Strickland barley.” I was looking for William Strickland, … Continue reading “Sir William Strickland On The 1790s US Barley Crop”
What a sad image to come across. A human for sale. It’s from from the 15 April 1734 edition of the New York Weekly Journal. Apparently the sale didn’t come to pass as she was still for sale half a year later. Unless that is another unnamed woman for sale with the same skills. The … Continue reading “Slavery, Servitude and The Interests of Patroons”
This is the third in a series of occasional posts in which I try to figure out what I really think about things like measuring how much one drinks or what taste looks like. This one, disconcertingly, it looks like a unified theory – something I have mocked for years. But a few weeks ago, … Continue reading “According To Me: How Brewing Cultures Develop”
I have started a winter project. I am transferring the data in the 1808 Day Book kept by James Vassar‘s brewery at Poughkeepsie NY into a spreadsheet to allow me to grind the data to see if I can learn anything. Careful readers will remember that two and a half years ago (Good Lord!) I … Continue reading “Some Thoughts: Month One Of James Vassar’s 1808 Day Book”
“Ah!” That’s what I hear you all say… “aaaaaahhhh!” Feet go up. Glasses get adjusted and you tuck yourself in for another fabulous edition of the unscheduled beer news roundup. See, Stan may post a round up every Monday while Boak and Bailey do the same most Saturdays. But it’s that unscheduled aspect that brings … Continue reading “A Good Beer News Roundup For An October Tuesday”
I wrote this quickly over at Stan’s this morning. Govern yourselves accordingly. ++++++++++I have to say I find this a very unsatisfying approach. I want to preface this by saying I do not believe I am being contrarian or a prick. I am also not talking about any one person. At least I have no … Continue reading “But The Problem Is My Own Unified Theory…”
Home alone on a sick day, what else better to do but catch up with my old pal Pehr Kalm on his travels 264 years ago. Working on the Ontario beer history book in recent days, I am looking for references to brewing in New France to seek if I can established what might have … Continue reading “1749 Quebec Drinks Advice From Pehr Kalm”
Again with Lord Selkirk’s diary of 1803-04, I noticed one thing on page 114 that sorta suck out. In his description of the set up of the kiln, there is a particular notation: “…small portable boxes for cutting straw are made for $9…” What the heck is that about? What is the function of the … Continue reading “What’s With The Boxes For Cutting Straw?”
The post at Jeff’s titled “A Better History of IPA“, written in response to a particularly poor piece of old school beer writing, led to comments and on of those comments led me to recall this: From Schenectady to Albany, about twenty miles, the country is sandy and poor. We travelled at the rate of … Continue reading “History, Consistency, Stability And Efficiency”