The bar tab at George Washington’s 1787 farewell party in Philadelphia was an impressive one: The founding fathers put away 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, 8 bottles of whiskey, 22 bottles of porter, 8 bottles of hard cider, 12 of beer, and 7 bowls of alcoholic punch…and there were only 55 people there. “They could pack it away,” says Frank Clark, who runs the period-accurate kitchen at the governor’s mansion in Colonial Williamsburg. “On average, they probably drank at least twice as much as we do today.”
Back in the eighteenth century, alcohol was very much a part of life—fermented beverages like beer, wine, and cider were actually viewed as healthy and part of a good diet. Fortified wines like Madeira, sherry, and port were especially popular, and there was beer aplenty too, both dark porters and English pale ales. Punches were another favorite. Generally, those had five ingredients: water; a citrus like lime, lemon, or orange; a spirit (often rum); spice; and sugar. “There were all sorts of punches during this period,” Clark says—even a hot foaming one called flip, made with beer, rum, spices, sugar, and egg.
One of the most popular dessert drinks of all, among all classes, was the syllabub—a simple concoction of wine, cream, lemon juice, and sugar all whisked together, recipes for which appear in early cookbooks like The Complete Housewife, written in 1753. “After you pour it into glasses and let it sit, the wine and the lemon juice convert the cream into a foam mousse, which you’ll eat with a spoon,” Clark explains. “And then you have a wine punch below to drink. It’s light, simple, and delicious.”
