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Historical Museum, Redemption Rock team up to brew beers to honor Worcester
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Matthew Tota
Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
For 145 years, the Worcester Historical Museum has housed priceless artifacts, including such relics as the John Hancock trunk that, knowing it held documents crucial to planning the Revolution, Paul Revere hid from British soldiers, a backup “Snoopy Cap,” invented by Worcester’s David Clark Co., worn by astronauts during the Apollo 11 moon landing, and a booth from the city’s legendary El Morocco restaurant.
Soon the museum, which has chronicled 300 years of Worcester’s history, will add three new items to its trove: beer cans from Redemption Rock Brewing Co. Brewed in collaboration with the museum, the special-edition beers recognize three city milestones, including its tercentennial.
On May 19, Redemption Rock will release the first brew, “Rescue From Oblivion,” a pre-prohibition corn lager celebrating the 200th birthday of Samuel Staples, founder of the Worcester Society of Antiquity (today the Worcester Historical Museum). We’ll get “Made In Worcester,” an American pale wheat ale tripled-hopped with Centennial hops, in June for the city’s much-anticipated 300th birthday celebrations. The last beer, “Salisbury Mansion Old Ale,” arrives in October, an English-style old ale paying tribute to the 250th anniversary of the mansion’s construction.
The collaboration marks the first time the museum has worked with one of the city’s breweries. “I always like to think that many historical events took place over a cocktail or a brew, so why not honor these events with something like that?” said Vanessa Bumpus, the museum’s exhibit coordinator.
Bumpus took inspiration from Toppling Goliath Brewing Co.’s ongoing partnership with the Field Museum in Chicago. Packages of the Iowa brewery’s “King Sue” IPA and “PseudoSue” pale ale, two of its most popular beers, draw attention to the natural history museum — and SUE, its famous Tyrannosaurs rex skeleton — by bearing its logo. “What a great idea, to tie in something cultural with a product as popular as craft beer. It gets people more interested in it,” she said.
She reached out to Redemption Rock first, knowing its history of community activism and its other historical brew, “Esther,” a weizenbock honoring Worcester artist Esther Howland, largely recognized as the “Mother of the American Valentine.” What began as a conversation over brewing one beer for the tercentennial turned into planning for three unique releases.
Collaborations between two breweries often produce stellar beers. But Redemption Rock always finds the most memorable, impactful brews come when a brewery teams up with businesses or nonprofits that have nothing to do with the brewing industry.
“Our take has always been that as much as craft beer is about the beer, it’s also about community. So, it makes sense that breweries should collaborate with other parts of the community outside of the beer industry,” said Redemption Rock co-founder Dan Carlson. “From a creative and inspirational standpoint, it’s very interesting and probably more interesting than working with other breweries, because there’s different cultures involved, different experiences, and it leads into some really innovative and fun products.”
Redemption Rock CEO and co-founder Dani Babineau also loves history and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work directly with the historical museum. And in planning the beers, the history informed the styles and flavors.
“Rescue From Oblivion,” comes from Samuel Staples’ own words in the letter he penned in 1875 calling for the creation of the Worcester Society of Antiquity. Staples and the four other history buff founders wanted to start preserving pieces from the past so as to “rescue from oblivion such historical matter as would otherwise be lost.” The museum would officially open in 1877 on Foster Street.
“At first, they aren’t just collecting Worcester stuff. They’re collecting things like pots from Pompeii, fleas from Mexico and other touristy, kitschy things,” Bumpus said. “Then they quickly realize that Worcester has some impact to, so they need to start preserving specifically Worcester stuff.”
Redemption Rock chose to make “Rescue From Oblivion” a corn lager because the style would have been common in industrial-age America.
“Made In Worcester,” meanwhile, is a clear nod to the city’s industrial past and rich history of manufacturing. Among the museum’s collection of
One of the beers, “Salisbury Mansion Old Ale,” will honor the 250th anniversary of the construction of Salisbury Mansion, the museum’s largest exhibit. MATTHEW TOTA
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April 7-10 sponsored by Berkshire Bank TheHanoverTheatre.org
