Join us at Otto's on Sunday, July 8th between 1:00-5:00 for a live demonstration of Colonial beer making by the author of Philadelphia Beer, Rich Wagner. You are welcome to stop by anytime to view the process. Rich has collected many different stories about Colonial brewing over the years — it is remarkable that Colonists got much else done besides brewing beer.
The process, to which he’s as faithful as possible, begins with boiling water over a wood fire and transferring it a bucket at a time into the mash bin where the barley malt and hops were kept. When those weren’t plentiful, Wagner said, Colonists might make a “small beer” using molasses as a base.
With the aid of his wife, Anna he brings each of the batches to near completion. The final step, the cooling, is something he isn’t able to do on site because it requires too much time in equipment that doesn’t travel well.
Wagner travels to many brewing events and locales because it allows him to see the American craft brewing process come full circle, which he finds satisfying given the downturn it took for the better part of the last 100 years.
“We have become disconnected,” he said. “It’s nice to see people rediscovering their brewing roots.”
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