Great American beers - Jul. 2, 2004
Off topic? You be the judge.

Great American beers

The nation's small brewers prove that the revolutionary spirit is alive and well.
July 2, 2004: 4:45 PM EDT
By Gordon T. Anderson, CNN/Money staff writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - As America toasts its founding, pause to consider beer's role in the history of the Republic. The Pilgrims, for example, chose to land at Plymouth Rock in part because they were out of beer, as John Alden noted in his log of the Mayflower. William Penn, George Washington and James Madison all brewed at home. Samuel Adams, famously, did it for a living. The Boston Tea Party was planned over beer at the Green Dragon tavern, and Thomas Jefferson composed the major parts of the Declaration of Independence at the Indian Queen tavern. And when the Constitution was being written in Philadelphia, the conventioneers adjourned nightly at the City Tavern, mindful of Benjamin Franklin's observation that "beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." If the Founders saw that beer could forge a revolution, modern Minutemen are forging a revolution in the beer itself. These days, small U.S. brewers are battling foreign and domestic foes -- with surprising success.