Great Moments in American Beer History 美国啤酒史上的伟大时刻

扎克·麦克 唐静

There is something undeniably American about the philosophy of drinking a beer. It’s the everyman’s drink to be enjoyed during backyard celebrations， or baseball games， or while watching moon landings， or simply as a reward for finishing mowing the lawn. It’s a beverage ingrained in our national ethos， passed around by intramural softball champions and Super Bowl winners alike. To hell with apple pie： beer is what makes America gleam.

In honor of the Fourth， we’ve compiled some of our favorite moments in American beer history. Swap them at your holiday BBQ. Pass them along to your favorite bartender. Shout them out while watching fireworks. Because knowledge is power， and as a man named Abraham Lincoln once said： “If given the truth， [the people] can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts—and beer.”

Native Americans were making beer long before European settlers arrived

Archaeologists have discovered fragments of pottery that prove that ancient Pueblos were brewing beer in New Mexico as far back as the 13th century， more than 300 years before Spanish settlers arrived in the area. The brew was made using corn， similar to a weak beer tribes in Arizona and Mexico made called tiswin. Thanksgiving， it seems， was much more fun than the old paintings let on.

America’s first public brewery opened in 1612 in New Amsterdam

Even though colonists in Virginia had been making beer for personal use for years， it wasn’t until Adrian Block and Hans Christiansen opened their doors in New Amsterdam that a public brewery stood on North American soil， right at the southern tip of Manhattan. As perhaps what you could call a pretty good omen， the first brewer ever born in the New World （and purportedly the first non-Native American male born in New Amsterdam） was delivered right in the brewhouse. There’s no record on what eventually happened to the brewery， but most believe it was priced out of the neighborhood by a chain drugstore1.

The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock because they were running out of beer

Anyone who has been through primary school has learned the story of the Mayflower， and anyone who has picked up a history book since has learned that the actual events were pretty different than the kid version. One huge difference？ The Pilgrims themselves actually had plans to sail south to Virginia after landing on Cape Cod， but were forced to land at Plymouth Rock as they were running out of vital supplies， chief among them being beer.

The founding fathers were big on beer in both their personal and professional lives

Does it really come as a surprise that there was beer on the minds of the architects of the United States？ At a time when drinking water was a risky proposition， brew was considered a safe alternative to death by dysentery. George Washington insisted his continental army be permitted a quart of beer as part of their daily rations during the Revolutionary War （and luckily for them， Congress agreed and upheld the request）.

But even outside of troop sustenance， George Washington was known for both buying beer （kind of ironically， it was often English porter） and using homebrewing as a means of providing their households with beer. According to the Mount Vernon Historical Society， there was a recipe written in his handwriting discovered on the last page of a notebook he kept.

Thomas Jefferson， always the showboat， went even further with his devotion to homebrew. After retiring from public life to Monticello， he quickly developed an interest in producing his own beer， right down to roasting his own malts. Naturally， word spread and his brew became so popular that the sitting governor of Virginia and sitting President James Madison both requested his recipes （to which he replied， “No way， Jose，” or something similar in his Jeffersonian wit）.

James Madison tried to make beer a federally official thing

Leave it to ol’ One-Upmanship James Madison to try to take the beer spotlight from the rest of the founding fathers！ Early during his first term in 1809， he proposed the creation of a national brewery to ensure the country had a reliable supply of beer for the masses. He even proposed to have it overseen by an appointed Secretary of Beer who would sit on his cabinet. Of course， this may have less to do with his love for beer and more with the fact that he was trying to 1） protect the domestic beer market by undercutting imports with tariffs， and 2） make beer more popular than whiskey， which he found to be a huge drag on families and society in general. In any case， it didn’t matter： party-pooper Congress rejected his idea， denying it from ever taking off.

The oldest bar in the country predates the actual country itself by over a century

Long before craft beer bars were in vogue， or before we had really delved into the idea that “hey， maybe the British aren’t so great，” someone in Rhode Island got the idea to open a tavern. And that’s why in 1673， the White Horse Tavern in Newport opened its doors and became an active participant in early American history. Colonial councilmen gathered here， charging their beer- and spirit-fueled lunches to the public treasury， while Hessianic mercenaries （or German soldiers paid to police the British colonies） drank nearby. And it was run by a pirate for while！ These days， the German mercenaries are long gone， but it does serve crazy-good seafood and kick-ass local beer.

In the 1980s， a beer-drinking goat was elected mayor of a town in Texas

Perhaps as proof that people are willing to vote for anyone with a schtick， the small town of Lajitas， TX once elected a beer-swilling goat as their town’s leader in the late ’80s. Henry Clay was famous for taking a long-neck bottle of Lone Star beer from tourists， upending it in his own mouth， and spitting the bottle to the ground when it was finished. He was viewed as a firm-yet-benevolent leader by his people until he was killed by his own son in a heated act of jealousy.

Obama is the first to brew his own beer in the White House

Since George Washington never actually lived there， and since every president in between was more a “bodega run” kind of guy， Obama’s homebrew program marks the first time a sitting president has made his own beer in the White House. Public interest in the brew has been intense ever since he got a homebrew kit for the kitchen during his first year in office... so much so that two lawyers actually requested the recipes be made public under the Freedom of Information Act. And they won！

討论喝啤酒的哲学，必有美国人的一席之地。人人都好这一口，后花园家庭聚会、棒球比赛，或者大到观看登月，小到只是剪完草坪犒劳自己，随时都爱喝。这一饮品根植于美国国家精神，由校园垒球赛冠军和超级碗获胜者代代传承。让苹果派见鬼去吧：啤酒才让美国熠熠生辉。

为纪念独立日，我们摘编了美国啤酒史上一些喜闻乐见的花絮，大家可以在假日烧烤时聊聊，给你喜欢的酒吧店员讲讲，观看烟花的时候吼吼。知识就是力量嘛，有个名叫亚伯拉罕·林肯的人曾经说过：“若晓之以真相，在民族危亡之际，则可信赖于人民。重要的是，要给他们真正的事实——和啤酒。”

美国土著早在欧洲殖民者到来前就开始酿造啤酒

考古学家已发现的陶片证明，早在13世纪，古代普韦布洛人就曾在新墨西哥酿造啤酒，300多年后，西班牙殖民者才抵达这一地区。这种啤酒用玉米酿成，类似于亚利桑那和墨西哥一些部落酿造的一款叫作提斯温的淡啤酒。以前的感恩节似乎要比一些老画儿描述的更欢乐。

美国第一家大众啤酒厂于1612年在新阿姆斯特丹开业

尽管弗吉尼亚的殖民者多年酿造啤酒，但属于私酿，直到阿德里安·布洛克和汉斯·克里斯琴森在新阿姆斯特丹开门营业，北美土地上才算有了第一家大众啤酒厂，就坐落在曼哈顿的最南端。或许是个所谓的好兆头吧，恰好就在这家酒厂，诞生了新世界第一个酿酒师，据说也是新阿姆斯特丹出生的第一个非土著美国男孩。这家酒厂最终命运如何，没有记录可寻，但大多数人觉得是一家连锁杂货店利用价格战把它挤出了这片地方。

清教徒前辈移民在普利茅斯岩上岸是因为啤酒喝光了

上过小学的人都知道“五月花”号的故事，不过后来再拿起一本历史书学习的人都会了解到，实情和孩提时知道的截然不同。最大差异在哪？清教徒前辈移民在科德角登陆后，其实本来计划向南航行到弗吉尼亚，但不得不在普利茅斯岩上岸，因为重要的补给耗尽——主要是啤酒喝光了。

美国开国元勋无论公开还是私下都是啤酒腻子

美国奠基者的心里一直装着啤酒，这应该不足为怪吧？那段时间，喝水是件危险的事，为避免得痢疾而亡，大家认为喝啤酒相对安全。美国独立战争期间，乔治·华盛顿坚持他的大陆军须每天配给一夸脱啤酒作为口粮。所幸，国会同意并支持了这一要求。

即使不在部队吃饭，乔治·华盛顿爱喝啤酒也是出了名的，不仅买酒喝（有点儿讽刺的是，他经常买英式波特黑啤），还在家自酿啤酒。据弗农山历史协会介绍，在华盛顿保存的一个笔记本的最后一页上，有他手写的酿酒配方。

托马斯·杰斐逊爱出风头，对于家酿啤酒如痴如醉，造诣更深。从公职退下来回到蒙蒂塞洛以后，他很快找到了自己的兴趣，生产一款自己的啤酒，甚至自己烘焙麦芽。自然，消息一传开，他的啤酒大受欢迎，时任弗吉尼亚州州长和时任总统詹姆斯·麦迪逊都向他讨要啤酒配方，他一概拒绝，要么回复“没门，各位”，要么靠他杰裴逊式的机智做出类似回答。

詹姆斯·麦迪逊试图把啤酒升级为“国营”

詹姆斯·麦迪逊总觉得自己高人一等，他当仁不让地试图要把闪耀在开国元勋身上的啤酒聚光灯转移到自己身上来！1809年第一任期之初，他就提议创办一家国家啤酒厂，以确保全国老百姓获得稳定充足的啤酒供应。他甚至建议任命一位啤酒部长来入驻内阁，监管此事。当然，他这么做与他热衷喝啤酒关系不大，主要是因为：1）他想靠关税来削减进口，从而保护国内啤酒市场;2）他想让啤酒比威士忌更受欢迎，因为他认为后者拖累了社会和家庭的总体发展。不管怎么说，这都不重要了：不识好歹的国会拒绝了他的想法，计划还没起步就彻底夭折。

美国最古老酒吧的建立比美国建国还要早100来年

早在精酿啤酒盛行之前，或在我们真正开始琢磨“嘿，或许英国人也没那么伟大”之前，罗德岛就有人突发奇想，要开一家酒馆。于是乎，1673年，纽波特白马酒馆开张，它也成了早期美国历史的积极参与者。殖民政府各议长在此高谈阔论，觥筹交错，顿顿午餐都酒足饭饱，然后用公款记账，附近还有黑森雇佣军（即花钱雇来保护英国殖民地的德国兵）喝得酩酊大醉。有一阵，酒馆竟然是个海盗在经营！如今，德国雇佣军早已消失，不过酒馆的海鲜是真好，啤酒也是真棒。

1980年代，喝啤酒的山羊当选得克萨斯州某镇镇长

得克萨斯州拉希塔斯小镇曾在1980年代末选出一只狂饮啤酒的山羊当镇长，或许人们是想证明他们愿意推选任何能闹出点噱头的人物吧。这只山羊名叫亨利·克雷，因喝啤酒而闻名——它会接过游客给的长颈瓶装孤星牌啤酒，咬住酒瓶倒立嘴中，一饮而尽，然后把酒瓶吐到地上。小镇居民觉得它是个坚定且仁慈的领导，不过后来它儿子因嫉妒它而行为过激，把它杀了。

奥巴马是第一位在白宫自酿啤酒的总统

因为乔治·华盛顿事实上根本没在白宫住过，还因为后来的每一任总统更多像“开酒窖”的，所以奥巴马的家酿啤酒项目就标志着他成为第一位在白宫自酿啤酒的在任总统。入主白宫第一年，他就给厨房置办了一整套家酿设备，引发民众对他酿酒的强烈关注……甚至真的有两名律师根据《信息自由法案》要求他把啤酒配方公之于众。他们竟然成功了！   □