Wines & Beers of Old New England: A How-To-Do-It History

by Sanborn C. Brown, Ed Lindlof (Illustrator)

"This book is written for people who like to go to folk museums, who like to collect antiques, who like to renovate old houses, and who like to drink," writes the author.

Genres: Brewing, Nonfiction

187 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Liam Wurtz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decent as a little history. The beer recipe is a confusing travesty and I wouldn't trust it as far as I could kick it, but some of the other sections, especially when we get more into the realm of folk/country wines, are very well resourced and reputable. I can personally corroborate enough of these to find the rest trustworthy but for mainline beer and winemaking there are certainly better resources out there.

Sometimes gives Indigenous Peoples credit where due, sometimes doesn't. Did learn a few interesting historical facts and a few techniques/processes that I was fuzzy on were explained in a really simple and illuminating way.

These New Englanders were so wierdly fixated putting eggs in their beverages, which I can get down with. In addition to the classic mead recipe where you add "As much Honey as will make it bear [float] an egg" (Bradley, 1762) the second to last chapter is a collection of old hot drink recipes, a few of which are in verse. A lion's share employ the use of 1 or more whole eggs or use slices of toast as garnish. Needless to say these people were messed up in the head but I will be revisiting this chapter come winter.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

While this book contains some useful information, there is more than a little misinformation and overall poorly organized.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really cool history and how-to guide for all sorts of crazy old Colonial beverages, like "Whistle Belly Vengeance" (sour beer sweetened with molasses and breadcrumbs) and "Abbot's Flip" (beer, eggs, sugar, rum, brandy). It has a really cool glossary too, with words like "grog-fight" (a drinking party) and "bung hole" (the wooden plug of a filling hole in a barrel). Hmmm...that's not the definition I had!

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite the how-to extravaganza I expected, but it has some interesting pointers I'd like to test. The section on hot mixed drinks is especially timely with the first big snowfall of the year.