By Tiah Edmunson-Morton At the expense of sounding cliché, historic recipe recreations are a way to taste the past. Figuring out proper ingredients, considering environmental conditions, and using appropriate equipment all bring you closer to what people ate and drank in “days of yore.” Home brewer forums are full of threads on authenticity, and a … Continue reading Brewing up some history: recreating historical beer recipes
By Renée Lafferty-Salhany Cocktails today, in expert hands, are an art form. The thoughtful, deliberate balance of disparate flavours is meant not only to intoxicate, but to express refinement, even elegance. Mixed drinks didn’t always evoke these things, however; one eighteenth-century concoction, the “King Calli,” is a case in point. The King Calli was a … Continue reading King Calli’s Spruce Beer
By William M. Cavert The shop down the road that sells alcoholic drinks offers such a variety of beers and ales that while shopping I sometimes imagine myself newly arrived from a communist planned economy into some bewilderingly choice-laden consumer paradise. Beer made in ever-so-small batches by Belgian monks, or by siblings in post-industrial Chicago, … Continue reading Fueling Beer Breweries in Early Modern London
As pointed out by Elaine Leong in a recent post, beer is a favourite topic at The Recipes Project. As a Belgian, I felt I should perhaps add something to the subject. As a classicist, however, I rarely encounter beer. Famously, the Greeks and Romans were wine drinkers, and considered beer a Barbarian beverage. Still, … Continue reading Wormy beer and wet nursing in the Roman Empire
