Drafting the past: Memorial Hall Museum taps into the liquid history of Massachusetts

Looking ahead to the nation’s looming 250th anniversary, Memorial Hall Museum curator Ray Radigan was looking for an unexpected window into the state’s history beyond the typical museum tricks. The answer was chilling in his fridge.

“We wanted to look at how we’re telling the story of the Revolution and how we’re telling the story of our history through a different lens … a way to get different people in the door,” Radigan said.

The historian stands inside the recreation of a Revolutionary-era tavern at 107 Old Main St. in Deerfield, which serves as the backdrop for Memorial Hall Museum’s newest exhibit, “Brewing Massachusetts: How Beer Shaped the Bay State.”

“What a great way to support the anniversary of our country than by finding something that was there before it got here,” Curatorial Assistant Lindsay Kruzlic said.

The exhibit begins with a head start on the colonists, describing how Indigenous American tribes brewed corn and carob to create concoctions quite different from today’s typical pint, according to Radigan. Across the pond in England, early traces of the beer on tap today had already begun to brew.

“Not only was it an option, it was the option,” Radigan said. “You basically had a choice between beer and water; however, water came from potentially contaminated town wells, so people back then knew that water could make you sick. They didn’t understand bacteria — they didn’t know why — they just knew water was risky.”

Thus, beer made it onto the Mayflower and other ships carrying the first settlers as a travel essential.

“They had some water, but they were stocked with beer,” Radigan said.

When the English settlers arrived, their customs came with them, including the alcohol, which quickly clashed with the Puritans’ points of view.

“They were Puritans; they were every stereotype we know about Puritans,” Radigan said. “They hated intoxication. It was considered sinful, it was a moral failing and they tried to legislate intoxication out of existence. However, they also drank beer on the reg.”

According to Radigan, laws at the time of this “cognitive dissonance” also banned certain groups, including Indigenous and enslaved Americans, from drinking beer.

Nevertheless, the beverage’s popularity continued into the 1700s, a time period when inns and taverns became the focal points of Colonial towns. At these hubs, locals could sip a beer, eat a meal, catch up on the local news and even send and pick up mail.

“It was kind of like stepping into the internet for them in a very physical way,” Radigan said.

Through the American Revolution, beer remained a fixture of daily life, stowed in the Patriots’ army rations and sold at both pro-independence taverns “Tory taverns” alike.

In the Indian House Memorial, the home base of the exhibit, Radigan and other curators invite visitors into this history by recreating a typical tavern scene, complete with chairs, a table with cards and a copy of the Impartial Intelligencer — the original name of the Greenfield Recorder — featuring headlines from 1792.

“We can throw all the words up on the wall we want, but as I’ve said before, the best way to keep something a secret is to put it on the walls of a museum,” Radigan said from inside the capsule tavern. “We want to bring this history to life as much as possible.”

With that same goal in mind, the Memorial Hall Museum staff also created the “Brewing the Revolution” digital scavenger hunt. The activity’s challenges and clues lead to monuments, historic taverns and brewing sites still running today across the state. Those interested can join in until July 4.

“We want people to see that there’s a historical connection to the beer they’re drinking,” Radigan added.

The exhibit then guides visitors to the Industrial Revolution, when German immigrants brought lager — ale’s crisper cousin — to the United States and Boston became what Radigan describes as the “epicenter of brewing in America.” From there, the exhibit steers visitors through both a figurative and literal turn: Prohibition.

Inside the aptly narrow, dark corner of the exhibit, Colrain’s “Queen of Bootleggers” Hilda Stone smiles at those nosy enough to demand a glimpse into the era’s secrets.

“Prohibition was a disaster, from start to finish — that’s the CliffNotes version,” Radigan said.

As evidence, he described a letter he discovered from the Postmaster General ordering mail carriers to stop accepting free drinks on the job. “Really, what Prohibition succeeded in killing was the brewing industry. It’s easy to hide a flask; it’s not easy to hide one of these,” he said.

He pointed to brewing supplies hidden in a closet before explaining the risk of “Rot Gut”—bootlegged booze that blinded its drinkers and left them with the “Jake Leg” limp.

Although Prohibition only lasted from 1920 to 1933, Radigan said the beer industry changed forever. When breweries reopened after the bans were lifted, “mega-breweries” like Miller Lite, Coors Light and Busch Light swallowed the industry as beer moved from saloon taps to bottles and cans in home fridges. Home brewing remained illegal until 1979, delaying the rise of modern craft beer.

“The craft industry not only revitalized brewing, it brought back all these old styles of beer that had fallen to the wayside,” Radigan explained.

Along with old favorites, Radigan said craft brewing cultivated the creativity behind today’s peanut butter stouts and other unexpected sips.

Looking back on the history of beer that he, Kruzlic and other curators chronicled, Radigan describes the staple of barbecues, baseball games and countless other American traditions as a perfect “jumping-off point” into the state’s history.

“It was so present throughout the entire history of the last 400-plus years,” Radigan said. “It doesn’t exist in isolation … It was on the table when they were talking about the Boston Tea Party.”

The exhibit concludes in the present day, where India pale ales (IPAs) dominate beer taps, small craft breweries face a murky financial future and many beer cans sport designs with an artistry Radigan compares to album covers. A stack of these colorful cans sits inside a glass case in the corner, and a bright Samuel Adams beer sign buzzes light into the room.

“You can’t have a brewing exhibit without a neon sign of something,” Kruzlic declared.

The historical showcase remains open to the public until Oct. 11. Tickets can be purchased at the museum for $5. For more information, visit memorialhalldeerfield.org/tc-events/brewing-massachusetts.