CL-037 J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham Pulls the Thread
If you\u2019re part of the beer world, you\u2019ve probably heard folklore about our Founding Fathers\u2014the men who signed the Constitution, the first American presidents\u2014brewing their own beer. That\u2019s an appealing story, a fun tidbit you might tell a friend when they ask you about your own brewing adventures.\xa0
And yet, how critically have we regarded this story? Think about the timeframe folks like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson were operating in. Both men, the first and third presidents of the United States, respectively, were slaveholders. And it\u2019s much more likely\u2014guaranteed, even\u2014that their slaves, not them, were the actual brewers.\xa0
Dr. J Nikol Jackson-Beckham pulled at the thread of this tale to point out its logical fallacies, and to shine a light on the actual brewers, specifically Peter Hemings, in her piece, \u201cMissing Ingredients \u2014 The (Incomplete) Story of Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Unsung Brewer,\u201d which was published on our website on December 12, 2018.\xa0
The path to this story wasn\u2019t quite linear for Dr. J, as she\u2019s known throughout the beer world. Dr. J, who has a PhD in Communication & Cultural Studies, and who uses her training to study the beer world, started having inklings about this story as she was still working on PhD, but couldn\u2019t quite find a place for it. We\u2019ve all had this happen\u2014a brilliant idea strikes us while we\u2019re working on a different project, and we can\u2019t exactly articulate where it belongs. So it stayed with her. For almost a decade. Now, in our conversation, she shares more about its long evolution\u2014and its rewarding payoff.
This is the Good Beer Hunting Collective podcast. Here\u2019s Dr. J.