‘‘In return for his charter La Battie was assessed an annual licencing fee at a rate of six merchantable beavers. Strange as the contract may seem, the payment underscores a problem that plagued the colonies, and later the infant United States, for nearly two centuries; lack of hard currency.’’

The fee Joan La Battie was charged to become the first officially recognised brewers in Albany, New York in 1647
From the book Beer in America: The Early Years – 1587-1840 by Gregg Smith