Dear Old Mum is crafted using 18th-century recipes and ingredients that come as close to what was available during the time period as possible. The brew was developed at a Williamsburg-area microbrewery using the expertise of the Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Foodways Staff. Originating in Northern Germany, Brunswick Mum came to England during the reign of the house of Hanover. The German version was a medicinal beverage with many different herbs and spices, but in its journey to England lost most, but not all, of the additives becoming a light, spicy ale.