Brewing up History
Inspired by the Museum of the Albemarle's upcoming 2020 Exhibition, "Temperance & Bootlegging: A Nation Under Prohibition". The museum's foundation, Friends of the Museum of the Albemarle, reached out to Elizabeth City's local craft brewery, Ghost Harbor Brewing Company, to help create the second North Carolinian Museum & Brewery Collaboration.
The joint collaboration is designed to help reach out to our younger professional demographic shared between both parties. The Museum's exhibition which celebrates the Centennial of Prohibition helps drive this special creation.
The collaboration helps drive community involvement with our small-businesses, teach the importance of providing support to the common effort of preserving our history, education of our youth, and philanthropy. The Foundation and Brewery, together over this 4 part collaboration collect, a portion of the proceeds to support the mission of the Friends of the Museum of the Albemarle to provide funds for exciting exhibits, educational programs, and artifact conservation that interpret the history of northeastern North Carolina.
What was Prohibition?
Prohibition, the legal prevention of the manufacture, sale, and transportation of “intoxicating liquors” in the United States, was ratified 100 years ago under the terms of the Eighteenth Amendment. Although the temperance movement, which was widely supported, had succeeded in bringing about this legislation, millions of Americans drank liquor illegally, which gave rise to bootlegging and speakeasies and huge profits from the illicit liquor trade. Loopholes in this act–liquor used for medicinal, sacramental or industrial purposes, and fruit or grape beverages prepared at home–hampered the enforcement of Prohibition, and it would remain more of an ideal than a reality.
Wait don't you mean, Monk?
Although it sounds the same, we do in fact mean to say, Monck. Monck, or more precisely, George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, (6 December 1608 – 3 January 1670) was an English soldier and politician, and a key figure in the Restoration of the monarchy to King Charles II in 1660.
King Charles II rewarded Monck suitably for his services in restoring him to his throne.
As a further token of Charles II's gratitude, in 1663 Albemarle was named one of eight Lords Proprietors given title to a huge tract of land in North America which became the Province of Carolina, the present-day American states of North and South Carolina. Albemarle Sound in North Carolina is named after him.
His name and actions are accredited to the famous Carolina Charter and to the region of northeastern North Carolina, thus named the Albemarle Region.
What is Mashing?
In brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining a mix of grains – typically malted barley with supplementary grains such as corn, sorghum, rye, or wheat – known as the "grain bill" with water and then heating the mixture. Mashing allows the enzymes in the malt (primarily, α-amylase and β-amylase) to break down the starch in the grain into sugars, typically maltose to create a malty liquid called wort.
