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Taste 19th-Century-Style Homebrewed Beer at Jamaica Museum

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | June 26, 2014 2:29pm | Updated on June 27, 2014 5:22pm
 Mark and Tess Szamatulski will discuss beer styles and local beer history this Sunday at King Manor Museum in Jamaica.
Mark and Tess Szamatulski will discuss beer styles and local beer history this Sunday at King Manor Museum in Jamaica.
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Courtesy of Mark and Tess Szamatulski

QUEENS — Homebrewing has been a growing trend in New York recently — but an upcoming event is set to celebrate the craft's long history in the area.

King Manor Museum in Jamaica is hosting an interactive beer tasting and education this Sunday to reveal the storied past of the first breweries in New York, as well as the continuing art of brewing beer at home.

Participants will also get to taste various samples of homebrewed suds, including some that mimic the popular styles of the past, organizers said.

The 90-minute interactive program, “A Pint of the Past: Beer & Homebrewing in 19th Century New York,” scheduled for Sunday, June 29, at 3 p.m., will be presented by home brewing experts Mark and Tess Szamatulski, the authors of "Beer Captured. Homebrew Recipes for 150 World Class Beers."

The Szamatulskis will talk about the history of brewing in New York and discuss beer ingredients and the brewing process. They will also offer several beer samples, organizers said.

“Mark and Tess Szamatulski are homebrewing experts and they will have some home brewed beer available for tasting,” Emily Melchin, of King Manor Museum, said.

"They will brew 19th-century style and contemporary beers so people will be able to compare them."

According to the museum’s website, beer “has been brewed in New York since the earliest days of European settlement.”

The first known brewery in the area opened in Manhattan in 1612, the museum said. But suds were mostly homebrewed at first, until the brewing industry developed in New York in the 19th century.

It's not known whether beer was brewed at King Manor, but according to the museum's website, “in December 1816, Rufus King recorded in his account book that he paid '27 Dol’ [for] Beer' from a neighbor in Queens.”

For more information about programs at King Manor Museum, email programs@kingmanor.org or call 718-206-0545 x13. The event is free, but reservations are required. The museum is located at Rufus King Park on Jamaica Avenue at 153rd Street.