Today marks an historic milestone. Its story is a real-life adventure marked by what some regard as pure luck while others label as miraculous. Four hundred years ago—on March 16, 1621—an English-speaking Indian from the Abenaki tribe strode into the new settlement of Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. He greeted the astonished Pilgrims and requested a beverage brewed from fermented cereal grains. “Welcome, Englishmen!” proclaimed Samoset, whose name meant “he who walks over much.” In a stout, resonant voice he asked, “Do you have beer?” The Pilgrims were certainly not teetotalers, but on this occasion of their very first, up-close meeting with a Native American, the tap was dry. “The Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers” reveals that they instead offered “strong water”—likely a brandy—as well as “biscuit, and butter, and cheese, and pudding, and a piece of mallard; all of which he liked well.” No beer, but still an exceptionally good …
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