Several books and articles on Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine mention a refreshing beverage called essich schling. This is a vinegar punch that was apparently drunk during morning breaks on the farm. It is hard to find the drink today, but it used to be a medicinal and austere drink in the 19th century.
In Lancaster County, the Pennsylvania Dutch have a long heritage of making tea from foraged wild mint. Typically, “meadow tea” is made during the early months of summer when the mint is just growing. It was served as a refreshment in the fields at one time.
Quakers have an interesting relationship with drink. The foundation of Quakerism involved the abandonment of wine as a sacrament. During the 19th century, Quakers would be prominent Temperance advocates. They even pushed hot chocolate and root beer as sober alternatives. Today, some Quakers may drink, but always moderately.
Craft beer has now cycled through two or three generations, but the first generation is still around to guide us. In Philadelphia, local homebrew gurus have been involved in the craft beer movement for decades. Their stance on the current craft beer business reflects their concern for beer’s future.
Many of the earliest settlers of colonial Philadelphia drank a lot of beer. When you walk around the historic part of the city, it seems that a tavern or brewery was on every corner. These drinking establishments were a continuation of British culture in the New World, but also facilitated the American Revolution.
Iliyaas Muhammad served in the Peace Corps in Mali where he learned about ginger beverages. When he returned to Philadelphia, he and his wife began selling the ginger infused drinks within their community. Now, Really Reel Ginger is a part of Philadelphia’s bustling Reading Terminal Market where they offer a healthy alternative to soda.
Forsythia cocktail syrup makes an excellent mixer with gin, but how can the flower be used in another drink? Might as well try to turn it into flower wine, although there is no guarantee that it is safe at that concentration. This is an experiment in preserving the spring and making a novel wine
There is another moonshine in the United States of America. It hides on the island of Puerto Rico, where distillers make pitorro out of sugar cane and fruits. Port Morris Distillery in the Bronx brings this spirit to New York and keeps the tradition alive.
Somewhere in a coffee shop in Brooklyn, NY, Mika Turbo is making a mean coffee cocktail. They have worked in coffee for 15 years in nearly all facets of the US-side of the business. Now, Turbo has turned to competition to express his love of the drink and the performance of hospitality that goes along with it.
The origins of the name Manhattan are muddled in mystery and amateurism for both the New York island and the whiskey cocktail. While the word first pops up on a Henry Hudson Map in 1609, certain ethnographers of the 19th century erroneously thought it meant “island were we got drunk.” Similarly, the origins of the Manhattan cocktail are not entirely known, although it likely emerged in the 1880s.
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