05/14/2021
If you didn't love Jane before...
Happy 245th birthday, Jane Austen! 🍻
In Austen's time, beer was the drink of choice, and like the rest of her family, Austen could brew her own beer. Her specialty was spruce beer, which was made with molasses for a slightly sweeter taste.
Austen was also a fan of making mead—she once lamented to her sister, "there is no honey this year. Bad news for us. We must husband our present stock of mead, and I am sorry to perceive that our twenty gallons is very nearly out. I cannot comprehend how the fourteen gallons could last so long."
For more on the writer's life, influences, and curious editing habits: https://trib.al/UlkxzbY