Christian Moerlein Releases Original Lager

From the linked article:

“Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. has released Moerlein Original Lager, a Vienna-style lager that pays homage to the brewery’s Original Lager from the 1850s and carries the bold new tagline “The Beer That Built Cincinnati.”

I suppose the term “homage” can be broadly interpreted? I wonder if the original Christian Moerlein beer of 1853 was a Vienna Lager?

From Wikipedia I found:

“In 1981, the brand was revived by the Hudepohl Brewing Company as a "better beer" a precursor to the craft beer category and is considered a pioneer craft beer of the craft beer movement.”

I wonder which generation of recreations this ‘Original’ Lager is?

Cheers!

 

Hopefully JK will 'come to the rescue'.

Cheers!

 

Didn't realize that the re-born Christian Moerlein brewing co. wasn't already brewing the Christian Moerlein lager as their flagship.

The Christian Moerlein Cincinnati Select Beer that was released in 1981 by Hudepohl Brewing Co. (which is where it was brewed until the two Cincinnati breweries merged and then closed the older Hudepohl plant by the end of the decade) was a creation of their head brewmaster, Gerry Erfenbeck and his brewers.

The name was just an homage to Moerlein (a pre-Pro "shipping brewer" and once among the top 20 US breweries by the late 19th century) no claim of "authenticity" was made at the time. In early promo material they only claimed it was "dark amber in hue...all malt...using imported hops", aged six weeks and 4.2% ABW. Interestingly, Hudepohl also brewed an all-malt, draught-only beer called Hofbrau that was sold locally and probably relatively rare.

In 1984, Stroh and Hudepohl got into a spat, when Stroh re-introduced Erlanger (a brand they got from Schlitz) and advertised is as the only US beer to meet the Reinheitsegot - something Hudepohl had been advertising for Christian Moerlein. Stroh excuse was their claim said "nationally" and CM was only in about 30 states at the time (we got it in NJ).

 

Will have to try to find a sixer of this. CM was a staple for me in the 80’s, especially on draft at Flanagan’s before Reds games. Consumed 100’s of these during that period. Probably one of the first “better beers” that I can remember having.

Should be a nice trip down memory lane, unless the tons of hops I have consumed since then have ruined my taste buds.

 

I would say their current flagship is their Over The Rhine Ale, which is an English Pale. Barbarossa Dark Lager is also pretty popular.

If you look at their current tap list menu for the CM Lager House, it lists two different Helles lagers. One is their (very good) Lager House Helles, and the other is listed as Original Lager - Helles. I imagine the second one is the one in question.

 

I made a new listing for this beer in which I labeled it as a Vienna Lager. That may not be accurate I suppose, but they mention Vienna malt specifically (and other "specialty" malts) on the side of the can. Also, it tastes like a Vienna Lager to me.

 

There's already an entry in the archived beers section for CM.

 

Perhaps that listing should be reinstated and the one I added be removed.

 

I sent in an update to merge and make it active again.

 

Great!

 

I had this at the brewery a few weeks ago. It's decent. I tend to stay away from their beers, they have a decent amount of variation from batch to batch. Not to mention they had a stretch with some skunky tasting hops a year or two ago.

 

Yeah, I thought so, too - but how to prove it? Checked my Exel files for "Hudepohl" and "Moerlein", got a hit, and pulled out this 1984 issue of ALL ABOUT BEER (yes, that is my mom on the right ).


Inside, not much more info on the original CM recipe except for the fact that soon after release in '81 , they "toned down" the alcohol content from 4.2% to 4% abw.

(The article also notes that the above mentioned Hofbrau was not a new release in '81, but was an all-malt, draught-only "dark" beer which they'd been brewing since the late 1940s - briefly bottled in the first years of Moerlein's sudden success).

 

My wife enjoys Moerlein's Strawberry Pig and Plum Street Wheat. Other than those two, I can't think of any Moerlein beers that we regularly buy.

I bought the Original Lager because I was looking for a change of pace from my typical IPAs and Stouts.

I'm glad I decided to try this beer. Even though lagers aren't my usual style of choice, I found this to be quite enjoyable...more so than most lagers I've tried. I think it's pretty tasty stuff.

 

The food has always been consistently good at the Lager House and they have a great guest bottle list, but most of their beers are all pretty disappointing. Including the Oktoberfest. OTR is alright. I do like Barbossa and I think the Bock was alright at Bockfest. Unless I am confussing it with the Shoenling.

 

Looks like a Vienna. I really wish they could/would make more of the pre-prohibition recipes