Ales of the Revolution at the City Tavern, Philadelphia

On my recent trip to Philadelphia, we ate lunch at the City Tavern, a multi-story tavern that used to host George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, and whose servers still wear the colonial clothes from those old days. The food is traditional and on the fancy tablecloths and napkins, but the highlight, as you may have guessed, is their beer selection. I think it should have been pretty obvious where I was going with this.

I tried the flight of four beers they serve, which are brewed from recipes used in colonial times by a local brewer, Yards Brewing.

Sadly we were unable to go to the brewery due to our schedule so the tastings I took at the tavern there will have to suffice.
The four they offered were: General Washington's Tavern Porter, Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale, Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce, and Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Ale. These are also offered in bottles for "Take Away", which is what I will do on my next trip out there. I was a little unfamiliar with the policies in Pennsylvania, whose beer selling practices are extremely archaic and anti-craft in just about every way possible. I will cover those practices and others I have encountered in an upcoming post.

Now for the tastings:

General Washington's Tavern Porter, which has been brewed from a recipe on file at the New York Public Library, and is sold exclusively at the City Tavern. It is rich and bold with a certain nuttiness to it. One of the better porters, not too rich. Rating: 4.

Thomas Jefferson's 1774 Tavern Ale, is light and clean, without a lot of bitterness associated with most European style light ales. Thomas Jefferson himself made beer twice a year, and this sweeter recipe reminds us of a brew that would have been by a farmer and beekeeper such as he. Rating: 4.

Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce, which is according to Benjamin Franklin's recipe when he was ambassador to France, uses spruce essence and molasses, since it was too difficult to get hops and barley at that time. It was amber and sweet and you could pick up some hints of spiciness. With an unusual flavor and the first Spruce I have tasted, so, therefore I have to give it a Rating: 5.

Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Ale is crisp and light and full of hops. It can be considered an American Pale Ale but I get the feeling it was added later, since I don;t see a lot of Pale Ales originating from those times. Excessive hops is a 19th century process I am pretty sure. Still, it is a good and memorable one. Rating: 5.

All in all I was impressed by these, and it was an impressive place to go, in a really impressive town. Next trip there will have me going to the Yards Brewery for a tour and especially to the tasting room for more of these.