ROCK ISLAND - Thirsty for a taste of history? Bent River Brewery has just what you're looking for.
The Moline and Rock Island-based brewery is all for experimenting when it comes to beer making, but when a certain opportunity was offered to them, they had to give it a second thought.
"When I looked at the recipe I was like 'I don`t want to do this,'" said Pat Murphy-Martinez, a brewer at Bent River.
A local radio station did some research and found the original hand-written beer recipe from George Washington himself.
"I say I`m a better brewer than George Washington, but I mean he was a better revolutionary, so I guess he`s got that going for him," said Murphy-Martinez.
When he saw the recipe, he wasn't expecting a tasty product.
"It`s going to taste like poop," said Murphy-Martinez.
The beer made back in the 1760's only had three ingredients, "Just molasses, water and hops," said Nick Bowes, general manager at Bent River.
Back then, the beer was given to soldiers to help lighten the mood of battle.
"A lot of the times they would make it so it was safe to drink. They would add the yeast in and fermented it out and then you at least has a product you could keep and you know not get sick from," said Bowes.
Murphy-Martinez says the beer didn't end up tasting so bad, "Shockingly enough, it actually tasted pretty decent when I tried it."
While the beer tastes okay, Bent River wanted to give its customer's another option. It will give out samples of the original recipe while offering glasses of a modified version.
"My brewers took that recipe and updated it you know to 2017, something that`s going to be a bit more palpable to today`s beer drinking crowd," said Bowes.
The beer tasting event will go on Tuesday, February 21st, from 6 to 8pm, at the Rock Island location.The first 150 through the door will get a commemorative George Washington pint glass. Bent River is also encouraging people to dress in their revolutionary attire.