What Were They Drinking 300 Years Ago?

Dec. 8, 2014 – Virginia is a wonderful state for anyone with a taste for history and now, a taste for beer made from 300-year-old recipes.

The Virginia Historical Society, a privately funded non-profit, has collected and saved recipes for beer, food and medicinal remedies that otherwise might have been lost from our history. And some Virginians are reproducing them for the rest of us.

A Richmond brewery, Ardent Craft Ales recently experimented with “Jane’s Percimon Beer”. It was a challenge because the recipe contained no quantities or instructions. For co-owners, Tom Sullivan and Kevin O’Leary it was trial and error. The first batch using 17 pounds of persimmons produced just three gallons of beer.

In the 1700s beer and cider were the common drink because the water contained sickness-causing bacteria. Alcohol levels were low, probably around three percent, so it was not unusual to drink these brews any time of the day.

Ardent Craft Ales will be experimenting with other recipes over time and with the fascination for craft beer showing no signs of declining, timing is perfect.