TALEA and New York Public Library recreate George Washington's small beer

Beer can still do what the best local releases always do: give drinkers a reason to care about a place, not just a pint. In Brooklyn, TALEA Beer Co. and the New York Public Library turned a George Washington small-beer recipe into a history lesson with retail legs. In Tennessee, Tennessee Brew Works tied a limited variety pack to state parks, tourism stops, and a fundraising pipeline that has already raised nearly $70,000.

The New York Public Library’s project starts with Washington’s 1757 military notebook, which sits in the library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division and is mostly in Washington’s handwriting. The recipe for small beer was part of the library’s 250th-anniversary programming for the Declaration of Independence, alongside exhibitions, events, a major book list, and a special-edition library card. The library says small beer was a common early-American drink because it was low in alcohol and could be safer than contaminated water. Its brewing process could kill bacteria, and it was meant to be consumed quickly rather than aged.

Mount Vernon places the recipe around 1757, when Washington was 25 and stationed at Fort Loudoun in central Pennsylvania. That context matters, because it frames the recipe as more than a novelty. It points to a practical daily drink in a military camp, and possibly an occasional substitute for water among troops. NYPL also posted a transcription of Washington’s handwritten small-beer recipe for the public, which makes the project useful for homebrewers as well as history fans.

TALEA, founded in 2019 by Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland and described by NYPL as New York City’s first women- and veteran-owned craft brewery, took the project in two directions. Washington’s Beer follows the old formula closely with water, yeast, hops and a large amount of molasses. Liberty Lager is the commercial version, designed to be approachable with subtle maltiness and a hint of hops. Darland said the library’s invitation drew immediate “awe,” and Liberty Lager is now available in TALEA taprooms, New York City restaurants and retail outlets.

Tennessee Brew Works is using a different public hook, but the playbook is familiar. Its State Park Variety Pack is extremely limited and timed to the 250-year anniversary of the U.S.A., with Fiery Gizzard Red Ale, Head of the Crow German-Style Bock Lager, Savage Gulf IPA and State Park Blonde Ale in the box. A portion of case sales will benefit the Tennessee State Parks Conservancy, extending a partnership that began in 2017 and has already funded trail upgrades, park accessibility enhancements and school field trip scholarships.

The pack is being sold at parks with concessions, including Paris Landing State Park, Montgomery Bell State Park and Fall Creek Falls State Park, plus state park golf courses and the brewery’s Nashville and Lenoir City taprooms. Between a colonial camp beer and a state-park four-pack, these breweries are proving the same point: civic storytelling sells when the beer gives people a reason to care where they live, hike and drink.