"Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy." Benjamin Franklin
Ok, maybe that wasn't the exact quote from one of our founding fathers. I think it was something or other about God giving us rain, which falls on grapevine roots, which then, blah, blah, blah brings forth wine and such, and in turn makes us all happy go lucky, or something like that. With 'ol Benny boy being the Francophile that he was, I can understand his logic. But me being the 'ol malt-ophile that I am, I prefer the misquote. I believe Ben did mean all good rain that falls to the earth to sustain vines, grapes, barley, or corn is God given, and intended to make us happy. And I choose to believe George Washington cut down that tree to make an amazing "Cherrywood Porter" like Beat 12's. So ever since the libation hit the lips, the potation hit the palate, of the Poor Richard's Ale at Bosco's in Nashville, I've wanted to recreate a similar brew at home. One that would make me and our First Post Master General, and the good Lord above happy. But, for no good reason, I procrastinated. After a few months, an urging voice in my head whispered, "Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today." Okay? Oddly inspired again, I performed an online search for a recipe. Immediately my search yielded the tercentenary webpage for Ben Franklin. There I found a modern day recipe by Tony Simmons which was chosen at GABF 2005 as a beer "The First American" might have brewed himself. The recipe did call for some new techniques, and a new ingredient. Hmm, I did not feel particularly confident about this brew. May be best to wait on this one, and stick to what I know. "The cat in gloves
catches no mice." Wait, what? Sure, I guess I could experiment with this
brew, and take the time to figure it out, but... "He who is good at making
excuses is seldom good at anything else." Alright, alright, already. I hear ya, I must
brew a "Poor Richard's," aka "Le Bonhomme Richard," aka "The Benny Frank" Ale. I researched and prepared to
do this one right, because, "If you fail to plan, you are planning to
fail." I looked at many different recipes and ingredients, all while using Simmons' recipe as a guide, and came up with a plan. On brew day, Beat 12 and I prepped and measured all of our ingredients, and set aside plenty of time to mash flaked maize, and perform a full 90 minute boil. Time went by quickly as we intoxicated ourselves on the smells of steeped malted grains and boiled hops, and before we knew it, we made our final addition of 6oz of molasses at 15 minutes. We chilled the wort, and added our water up to 5 gallons to a perfect 70 degrees F. The OG measured a 1.058 - a little short of expectations, but then I remembered, "Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed." True, true. The color was a wonderful dark brown, and a nutty aroma from the grains came through. With perfect pitching temperature, Beat 12 did the honors of pitching the starter, and within 12 hours, the air lock was full of activity. Excellent! Time to sit back, relax, and let the yeast do its work. "In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria." Let's just hope my sanitization proves that.
*All Benjamin Franklin quotes provided by GoodReads.com
