Bridge and Tunnel Maspeatches

In 1642, the first Dutch settlers came to Queens from Manhattan, setting up camp in the very town that Bridge and Tunnel Brewery is located (Maspeth). However, Queens was obviously not an uninhabited land – at that time the Mespeatches Indian tribe were living here, and doing just fine. The Dutch settlers probably rolled into town throwing their weight around. One thing led to another, and within the first year, the Mespeatches basically booted the settlers out, and sent them packing back to Manhattan in no uncertain terms (tuned em up good). Incidentally, that tribe’s main village was located on the high ground east of Mount Zion Cemetery in Maspeth, and the name “Maspeth” comes from that tribe’s name. As for the beer, since the Dutch and the English were so fearful of drinking fresh water, and relied heavily on beer as a means for hydration, there’s no doubt that beer was brewed in Maspeth in 1642. So I put together a recipe for a drinkable, session-y beer that may have been brewed in that year, considering what ingredients were available to the Dutch settlers. At that time, barley, and hops were imported from England and not in regular supply. So what colonists did in those lean years was supplement their grain bill with additional fermentables, such as rye, wheat, corn, buckwheat, honey. All of those ingredients were included in the recipe. In fact, the honey for this first batch was donated by Tom Wilk – from a bee hive literally located in Maspeth. In terms of hops, the strain that was available in the 1600s was Cluster, which was a hybrid of an English variety, and a local hop strain that grew in New York. But if Cluster was in short supply, there were 3 other ingredients that could be used to supplement the bittering – they were birch, sassafras, and spruce. Cluster was used in this recipe, in addition to a pound of spruce tips. The final product is an amber colored, moderately hoppy ale, slightly cloudy from the wheat, slightly sweet from the honey, with a subtle earthy bite from the spruce. It’s going to be finding homes at a handful of accounts this week, and will be part of Jimmy Carbone’s Octoberfeast food and beer event next weekend (October 11th), where I’ll be pouring both the 1642 Mespeatches Honey Spruce Ale, and 3 Sisters Pumpkin Ale. Link for the event is below. Enjoy your weekend.