A round of ice-cold beer seems like the ultimate way to toast America’s upcoming 250th birthday, especially when the drink in your glass is directly inspired by a recipe handwritten by President George Washington himself. As the country prepares to celebrate its semiquincentennial milestone, the New York Public Library has teamed up with TALEA Beer Co., a trailblazing, female-owned craft brewery based in New York City, to brew a special-edition tribute called “Liberty Lager.” Part of the library’s ambitious “250 Years: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” programming, this unique collaboration bridges the gap between historical archival preservation and modern urban community life. By turning a centuries-old manuscript into a modern, drinkable reality, the project invites contemporary drink-lovers to taste history in a way that feels deeply personal, tangible, and alive. This endeavor reminds us that behind the mythic, marble-sculpted founding fathers were real people who worked, planned, and enjoyed a cold drink at the end of an exhausting day. Raising a glass of this historically-infused lager becomes a warm, sensory act of remembrance, connecting our bustling modern world back to the rough-and-tumble colonial era. Through this partnership, the NYPL and TALEA are proving that history isn’t just something we read on a page or view behind glass—it is something we can touch, smell, and taste with friends around a table, just as communities have done for hundreds of years.
To truly understand the soul of this beer, one must travel back to 1757, amidst the smoke, dampness, and tension of the Seven Years’ War. A young, twenty-five-year-old George Washington was serving as a colonel in the Virginia militia, facing not only the tactical challenges of frontier warfare but also the silent, deadly threat of disease. In those days, fresh drinking water was an absolute luxury; natural water sources were frequently contaminated with life-threatening pathogens, making dehydration and waterborne sickness a constant threat to military camp survival. The solution was “Small Beer,” a low-alcohol brew that was boiled during production, effectively sterilizing the liquid and rendering it safe for daily troop consumption. In the back pages of his notebook, amidst field notes and troop coordinates, Washington meticulously scrawled his personal recipe for this vital beverage. This handwritten artifact, preserved in the archives of the New York Public Library, reveals a deeply human side of the future president: a pragmatic leader concerned with the health, morale, and physical stamina of his troops. Small beer was not brewed for intoxication—it rarely exceeded an alcohol by volume of three percent—but rather for pure survival, hydration, and a modest caloric boost. Instructing his readers to boil bran hops for three hours before mixing the liquid with molasses, Washington relied on the ingredients available in the colonies to create a thick, sweet, and comforting ale for his weary soldiers.
The mechanics of Washington’s original colonial recipe offer a fascinating, hands-on look at the alchemy of early American homebrewing, which relied heavily on intuition, physical sensation, and simple colonial staples rather than modern laboratory precision. His instructions read like a rustic kitchen diary: the process began by taking a large, rustic sifter filled with bran hops and boiling them vigorously for three long hours to extract their bitter, preservative qualities. Next, the brewer would strain thirty gallons of this steaming liquid into a large cooling vessel, immediately stirring in three gallons of thick, dark molasses while the mixture was still “scalding hot” to ensure the dense sugar fully dissolved. Because there were no electronic digital thermometers in the eighteenth century, Washington’s recipe relied on the human body as a measuring tool, advising the brewer to let the liquid stand undisturbed until its temperature cooled to “a little more than Blood warm.” Once this lukewarm threshold was reached, a quarter of yeast would be introduced—though only if the weather was sufficiently cold—and the entire vat would be wrapped snugly in a heavy wooden blanket to trap the natural heat generated by active fermentation. After sitting in the cooler for twenty-four hours to let the yeast work its magic, the fermenting beer was transferred into wooden casks, with the bung-hole left purposely open to allow excess gases to escape until the violent fermentation died down. This hands-on process yielded a heavy, dark, and highly sweet ale that tasted strongly of burnt sugar and earthy grains, a far cry from the light, crisp, and sparkling lagers that dominate modern supermarket shelves, yet perfectly suited to the rugged tastes of the colonial frontier.
When the New York Public Library approached TALEA Beer Co. with the idea of transforming this archival manuscript into a modern commercial release, co-founder Tara Hankinson and her team were instantly captivated by the historical mystery. They initially set out to recreate Washington’s exact formula down to the letter, embarking on a meticulous journey of trial, error, and tasting sessions to see if the young colonel’s drink would satisfy modern sensibilities. This faithful experimentation yielded a dark, dense liquid that Hankinson described as possessing an intense, molasses-forward flavor profile dominated by notes of gingerbread, warm winter spices, a robust hoppy bitterness, and an incredibly heavy, full-bodied mouthfeel. While this historically accurate brew was a fascinating, educational novelty, the team quickly realized that the original recipe’s heavy sweetness and thick texture made it far too intense for casual, summertime drinking in the twenty-first century, leading them to decide against mass-producing it for general commercial sale. Instead, TALEA’s master brewers channeled the spirit of Washington’s ingredients into a brand-new, highly approachable creation: Liberty Lager. This commercial release is a beautifully balanced, modern amber lager that dials back the overpowering molasses to deliver a subtle, malty sweetness complemented by a delicate touch of crisp hops. Furthermore, while Washington’s small beer was an ale designed to be weak and hydrating, Liberty Lager is a bottom-fermented lager boasting a robust 6.5 percent ABV, offering modern drinkers a clean, refreshing, and crisp finish that is perfect for hot summer days, while still honoring the deep-red amber hues and sweet heritage of its colonial predecessor.
To bridge the massive culinary gap between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries, the project enlisted the expertise of Anne Becerra, a certified cicerone and a highly respected New York City-based beer sommelier. Becerra viewed the collaboration not just as a fun gastronomic experiment, but as a profound exercise in human storytelling, using the universal language of beer to connect modern citizens with the daily lives of historical figures. For Becerra, beer is a vital, living thread that runs through the entire tapestry of human civilization, serving as a catalyst for community, social gathering, and political debate long before the founding of the United States. Taverns, after all, were the democratic incubators of the American Revolution, places where ordinary citizens and revolutionary leaders alike gathered over shared pitchers to debate the concepts of liberty, self-governance, and independence. By partnering a historic educational institution like the library with a modern, community-oriented craft brewery like TALEA, the project highlights how both spaces serve essentially the same cultural purpose: they are welcoming public forums designed to gather people, share stories, and preserve collective human experiences. Collaborations like this break down the academic barriers of history, turning what could easily be a dry, forgotten archival document into a sensory conversation starter that makes people stop, take a sip, and ask questions about the past. It offers a playful, delicious reminder that the builders of our nation were not distant puppets of destiny, but real, living humans who laughed, argued, and shared a pint of sweet molasses beer in the heat of summer.
As America prepares to blow out the candles for its semiquincentennial milestone, Liberty Lager stands as a beautifully democratic tribute to our shared heritage, available for all to experience at TALEA’s vibrant taprooms—including their Bryant Park location which sits just steps away from the iconic stone lions of the library’s main branch—as well as select restaurants and retail shops across New York City. The beer is a testament to how far we have come as a society, showcasing how a traditional craft once dominated by colonial military men has evolved to welcome pioneering, female-owned enterprises like TALEA, who are bringing fresh, creative perspectives to the contemporary brewing scene. It highlights a wonderful irony of time: while George Washington brewed his small beer to protect his soldiers from dangerous water in the wilderness, we now drink Liberty Lager to celebrate our safety, our prosperity, and the vibrant, artistic culinary landscape of a free nation. Every chilled pint poured represents a celebration of both continuity and progress, inviting us to reflect on the immense sacrifices of the past while raising a toast to the bright, inclusive future of American craft and community. So, whether you are a dedicated history buff eager to walk in Washington’s footsteps, a curious traveler visiting the library, or simply a local looking to escape the city heat with an exceptionally well-crafted amber lager, Liberty Lager offers a chance to participate in a uniquely American story. In every sip, there is a whisper of 1757, a nod to 1776, and a bright, bubbly celebration of the present day, reminding us that the pursuit of happiness can be as simple, refreshing, and sweet as sharing a cold beer with our fellow citizens.
