author
Joseph Coppinger
An early Irish American writer on brewing and industry, he brought practical know-how to print at a time when the young United States was still building its trades. His best-known work blends hands-on instruction with the confidence of an inventor and entrepreneur.
1 Audiobook
The American Practical Brewer and Tanner
by Joseph Coppinger
About the author
Joseph Coppinger was an Irish-born author, inventor, and businessman active in the early 19th century. He is best known for The American Practical Brewer and Tanner, first published in 1815, a detailed guide that drew on his long experience in brewing and malting and was aimed at improving American manufacturing.
Records connected to Thomas Jefferson show that Coppinger corresponded with him about publishing and brewing, which helps place him in the world of practical science, trade, and early American enterprise. Patent records also link him to inventions involving distilling, preservation, and rice threshing, suggesting a career shaped as much by experimentation as by writing.
Some biographical details about his life remain hard to confirm consistently across sources, so the clearest picture is of a technically minded writer whose work sits at the crossroads of food production, craft knowledge, and invention in the early United States.