The first brewery in the South.
Woe to any historian who is fixated on asserting priority. Brewing was a home craft in the English speaking world and many a 17th century household had vats dedicated to turning grain alcoholic. We know maize was used for brew before the founding of Jamestown in the Southeast. But public breweries—that’s a different thing. It is entirely possible that the early taverns of the South had facilities for brewing ale, because shipping it from Britain was a costly matter. I’ve combed tax records trying to find some indication of a facility being made to pay a tax on beer production.
For some years there’s been one agreed upon public brewery that historians recognized. It was constructed at the end of the 1730s by Major William Horton, of Jeckyll Island out of tabby. The beer supplied the soldiers in nearby Fort Frederica. Portions of the walls still stand. What does not survive is a record of the kind of beer being made. Was it corn beer—the first southern beer? Or did they use the 6 row bere barley grown over winter, like George Washington and other planters did? I suspect the former. Agriculture was not well established on the sea islands in the first decade of Georgia’s settlement. Things that were known to grew tended to be what was planted. The other possibility was rye. Sea Shore Black Seed Rye grows well along the coast (and still does). The bittering agents? Hops, maybe yaupon.
IN 1742 the Spanish burnt down Horton’s House and the brewery probably ceased operation.
Corn beer is a concoction that was long lived in the South, enjoying bouts of popularity during wars, prohibitions, and economic depressions. I have included below a minimalist recipe published during the Civil War. It is perhaps worthwhile to remember here that bourbon is processed out of a kind of corn beer. The first brewery in the South.
No hops or gruit needed for corn beer!