Pre-Prohibition
Goldfinger Brewing Company

Brewers notes : This Pre-Prohibition Lager was brewed using all American ingredients. Sticking to brewer’s recipes prior to Prohibition, we used only American ingredients: 6-row and 2-row barley from Indiana, hops from Michigan, and American corn grits. We performed a traditional “cereal mash” to gelatinize the sugars in the grits to make them fermentable. Dangerously quaffable, a smooth body with a touch of earthiness in the hop character. Beer two of two we are debuting at our Second Lagerversary starting tomorrow is a collaboration between us and our friends @liveoakbrewing .

This is a special beer that uses all American ingredients. For the majority of our beers we use imported ingredients to match the authenticity of our European traditional styles. However, this lager called for recreating the type of beers that were brewed in America before Prohibition.

The brew began with performing a traditional “cereal mash.” This is the process of cooking an adjunct (in this case corn grits), to promote a process called gelatinization. This makes the sugars in the corn grits available for the enzymes to break down in our main barley mash, which will eventually be consumed by our yeast. Once the cereal mash was complete, we mixed in Indiana grown 6-row and 2-row malted barley (@sugarcreekmaltco ). For hops, we used Michigan grown Fuggle (@45thparallelhops ) to provide a touch of woody and earthy tones. Thanks to the use of corn grist and cold horizontal lagering, the body is light and crisp, making this beer dangerously drinkable at 5.8%abv.


Chilled pint can poured into a Monhegan brewing glass

Glassy gossamer white foam quickly fades

Clear golden liquid with bouncy bubbles bubbling up

Smells of grains, biscuity

Smooth, clean , crisp , tangy , gentle hop bite on the finish on the back of the tongue

Good beer on a warm day watching college football by the pool

16 ounce can into a pilsner glass. Canned 7/15/24, had 9/4/24.

Pours a mostly clear pale golden color, with a three inch plus head of spongy foam with decent retention and light foamy lacing. Active carbonation. Aromas of yeast, malt, some bread, light black pepper. Smells herbal. Flavors of malt, bread, light pine. Tastes herbal and a little spicy, with some herbal hop bitterness. Smooth, a little dry, a very good light body, well carbonated.

This is good. Kind of reminds me of the lagers back when choices were few- although with much better ingredients and craftsmanship. Certainly worth a purchase.

 

Had on tap. Murky bright golden body with visible carbonation, huge white head and plenty of lacing. Cereal grains, sweeter malt, corn, and leafy hops in the nose. Taste is rough, not sure if I got a bad keg of what: cereal grains and sweet malts clash with the corn, rough yeast and way too strong leafy hops, no harmony through the whole sip, has hint of beets. Feel is light and crisp, but surprisingly pale, dry. Glad beer is better now a days

 

 

16 oz can into a pilsner glass. Clear pale straw color with a solid two-finger white head. Pleasant corn and spicy hop aroma, no funk at all. Similarly pleasant and very clean flavor: corn and white bread is very well balanced with some fairly intense (for the style) hop bitterness. Just an all-around well-balanced and flavorful lager. Appropriately crisp and refreshing. Wonderful!

 

I had this on draft 8/24/22 @ the Hopleaf.

Slightly cloudy yellow appearance.

Nice white head; frothy lace.

Fresh corn, wheat & faint pine flavors.

Medium thin mouthfeel.

Fresh corn & raw wheat flavors; mild pine notes on the finish.

Halfway between a Pilsner and a Kellerbier? Tasty, regardless.

 

Pours a crystal clear straw yellow - gold color. Three finger white sudsy head forms on the beer, lingers a moment, then dissolves until this thin layer of velvety foam remains on the top of the beer. Bright and effervescent. Aroma has notes of wonder bread, flaked corn, a touch of sweetness from the malt, and some subtle herbal hoppy notes.

Taste follows the nose with notes of white wonder bread, a hint of toastiness, some corn flakes, and then a surprisingly sharp herbal hops character on the back end. There is a subtle sweetness to the beer, but its balanced out by the sharp hop bite on the finish. Really does a great job nailing the pre-pro style. Feel is light, crisp and bright. Lively, prickly carbonation. Balanced finish.

Overall this was really excellent. I have not had Live Oak's pre-pro pilsner, but I imagine theirs would also be really nice.