Craft Brewery Announces Revolutionary Collab with Ghost of Benjamin Franklin
PHILADELPHIA, PA—A local brewery claims to have brewed their latest beer in collaboration with the ghost of Benjamin Franklin, dubbing it "revolutionary."
Arnold Johnson, the 35-year-old owner of Liberty Libations, got the idea for the beer while on a ghostly walking tour of Philadelphia. "We were walking through the Old City when the tour guide said that the ghost of Benjamin Franklin still roamed the streets. At first, I wondered why he’d still be doing that, but then I thought that we could brew a kick-ass beer together."
The beer, named Ben's Best Brown, was the result of many late-night conversations with the apparition. "He really knows his stuff when it comes to beer," Johnson said. "The pilot batch was quick, but it was hard to get his tasting notes, obviously. We spent a ton of time on the can, though. He really has an eye for design." The label features Franklin winking and pointing, accompanied by his trademark bifocals and fur cap. The slogan of the beer reads "Revolutionary Taste for a Revolutionary Spirit" and is subtitled with the quip “Founding Father? More like Founding Fermenter!”
This isn’t the first time craft breweries have collaborated to bring old recipes to life. Dogfish Head in Delaware released several “ancient ales” in collaboration with molecular archeologist Dr. Patrick McGovern, Off Color in Illinois partnered with the Chicago Field Museum to uncover a Chinese beer from 1200 BC, and Avery Brewing in Colorado has an “ales of antiquity” program, one of the latest being a collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution for another founding father: George Washington.
While Johnson acknowledges that extensive research was put into those collaborations, he thinks it was easier to collaborate with Franklin directly. "The amount of research those dudes did was crazy. I respect that. It was way easier to just ask him what he thought the beer should taste like." When reporters mentioned that this was the first-known beer brewed in collaboration with someone outside of the corporeal realm, Johnson replied, "That's sick. I can't wait to tell Ben!"