Pre-Prohibition Lager

Per-Prohibition lagers were first created by German immigrant brewers attempting to adapt Old World brewing techniques to New World ingredients. At the time it was hard to get ahold of the traditional two-row barley used for malt. So, brewers turned to six-Row, which is noted for having higher protein levels and higher enzyme content. To take advantage of those enzymes, and to reduce the additional protein, these brewers turned to a cereal grain that was more abundant in North America: corn. They still relied on cold fermenting lager yeast and traditional brewing methods, but many had to adapt their hop choices from European varieties toward North American grown hops.
Our version is adapted from a historical recipe from 1912. We remained as true to that recipe as possible, relying on its hopping rates, process, alcohol content, and ratio of corn to six-row. We utilized Murphy & Rude’s 6-Row Pale, a massive addition of their malted heirloom Bloody Butcher Corn, and Chinook hops grown by Greenmont Hopworks in Charlottesville, VA. The result is a clean refreshing pale lager with a grainy malt profile and bitter crisp finish. The two unique malts we utilized add subtle notes of water cracker, straw, and freshly shucked corn, while Greenmont’s Chinook hops add light floral notes of melon rind and subtle citrus. At first the beer is malt forward with a mild bready sweetness, but it then finishes with a pleasant noticeable bitterness and dry crispness. Show Less