Your Beer Time Machine

Common misconception this time of year. It wasn't the pilgrims who ran low on booze, it was the crew of the Mayflower.

They were low on all provisions and decided to unload their passengers early so they could get back to England before everything ran out.

 

I would travel back to the year 1890 and spend two weeks in British Pubs then another two in German Biergartens.

 

It should be mentioned that Pilgrim Leader William Bradford, who also served as the first Governor, kept a detailed journal in which he described the reason for ending the journey in MA was. "Our victuals were spent, especially our beer."

 

Ulterior motive for going to SF in the 60's. For Portland I would set the time machine earlier, so I could talk (again) to Charles Coury of Cartright, the Widmer brothers in their Lovejoy Street brewery, the McMenamins, and impresario Fred Eckhardt when the beer scene was just getting started there.

 

On a personal level, I'd like to travel back to the early 90s to join my aunt and uncle (who passed when I was 20 or 21) on one of their many road trips seeking out good beer and good camping. They were instrumental in my introduction to good beer and my aunt is still one of my favorite people to share a drink with. I'd just love a chance to get into a proper session of good beers with my uncle as well. He was a remarkable guy and a fascinating conversationalist.

From a beer nerd perspective I think I'd like to visit either central Europe or the UK in the late 19th century. It would be cool to try traditional wood kilned malt beers and the then novel beers made with malts kilned free of smoke. Im also very curious to see how much local beer changEd from valley to valley

 

Well, if Mr. Peabody would permit me to use his Wayback time machine I would travel back three times to the 1800’s to drink three ‘classic’ American beers:

IPA brewed in America

My first trip would be to Newark, NJ in the latter 1800’s to drink the original Ballantine IPA. IPA of the 1800’s is often viewed as a British thing but there were a number of US breweries in addition to Ballantine (e.g., C. H. Evans, Frank Jones, Christian Feigenspan and Matthew Vassar) brewing IPAs. My desire would be to taste the Ballantine IPA.

The first AAL beer?

Budweiser is now associated with Anheuser-Busch but the very first Budweiser was based upon a recipe by Carl Conrad who had his beer brewed in 1876 at what was then called the Busch Brewery in St. Louis. I suspect that this original Budweiser was a tasty beer.

Michelob

My third trip would be to St. Louis to drink the original Michelob beer in 1896. The brewery was now called Anheuser-Busch and the reported motivation for brewing Michelob was to brew a beer like those Adolphus Busch tasted during a visit to Bohemia. The original Michelob was an all-malt Bohemian Pilsner. According to a magazine article from the 1920’s, “Michelob was perhaps the best beer ever made in America and the most expensive; it sold for twenty-five cents a glass. In New York, at one bar at least, it was sold for forty cents by a barkeep who told his patrons that it was imported.” I would be willing to bet that Michelob of the late 1800’s and into the earlier 1900’s was an excellent beer.

Cheers!

 

Dave, given your interest in ancient beers I would strongly recommend that you read the book Ancient Brews: Rediscovered and Re-created by Dr. Patrick McGovern. I read it this past summer and I found it to be both very informative and educational. And for those who are homebrewers each chapter provides a 5 gallon homebrew recipe to brew a reconstructed version of an ancient beer/beverage.

I have become friends with Pat over the past year exchanging a number of e-mails back & forth. He is a fascinating fellow.

Cheers!

 

Even though Busch had become a full-fledged partner in his father-in-law's brewery by then, the name of brewing company was still E. Anheuser Co., and wouldn't be changed to Anheuser -Busch Brewing Assn. until 1879. Also, St. Louis Lager (below) was their first adjunct (rice) brew, and most accepted sources noted the Budweiser recipe was developed by Busch and his brewmaster Irwin Spoule, at the request of Busch's friend and grocer/wine importer, Carl Conrad. Ogle, for instance, wrote "Conrad knew nothing about making beer, but he knew a market trend when he saw one and asked Busch to to create 'a very pale, fine beer'."

 

I will drink that beer too!

After traveling 145ish years why just drink one brand!?!

Cheers!

 

I wouldn't mind visiting Munich anno 1844 to try the beer which launched thousands of breweries across Europe and the world, essentially the IPA of its day, the Bavarian lager beer. Then make a beeline to Stockholm where Tyska bryggeriet (the German brewery) were busy brewing three kinds of Bavarian beer (BÄJERSKT ÖL): bitter, less bitter and double. If I had time over I would make a visit to New York to taste that city's lager beers as well.

 

Patrik, you would prefer to drink this beer vs. the first Pilsner Urquell of 1842? The beer that started the Pale Lager 'trend' which represents the vast majority of beers consumed today?

I am personally not a fan of the way that Miller Lite is 'marketed' since it is an AAL but...



Na Zdravi

 

You're in luck. No time machine necessary (maybe a slight suspension of one's suspicions about "original recipes").
Anheuser-Busch To Brew St. Louis Lager For First Time In Over 100 years
OTOH, you do have to go to St. Louis to get it...

Try some of Lemp's beer while you' re there, probably easier to find, too, since they were brewing more beer in St. Louis (61k bbl) than AB (45k bbl) was at the time (1877),

 

Well, couldn't I just set the Wayback machine to just travel 1 second in the past while setting the location to St. Louis?

That would save me in airfare!

Sure, three brands is even better!

But I would really make the effort to drink the original Bud considering the 'rarity' (45k bbl) effect!

Cheers!

 

The 19th century Muncheners were all dark beer. Today the style isn't too common. Can you even get a dunkel at Oktoberfest these days? The introduction of pale Munich lager was by Spaten in 1894 according to:
https://www.oktoberfest.de/en/magazine/eat-and-drink/the-six-munich-breweries-at-oktoberfest

 

I keep thinking back to the late '70's. I don't boast much of a beer pedigree, and I never was much of a drinker. Stroh's was the usual (6%, not that 3.2 swill ), and my go-to dive bar in Columbus' Brewery District had 25-cent draws of Gambrinus served in heavy glass dimpled goblets and free peanuts on the side. Life was simpler until I learned that there was beer out west that you couldn't get in Ohio. I'd love to be able to relive the first trip I took to Colorado and Wyoming. So much beautiful scenery to take in, and so much Coors to haul back east! I know there are lots of whale destinations out there, but somehow I don't think the experience would be quite the same. (And I'm pretty sure you can't get those thumb-slicer cans any more. )

 

Plus, you get to drive a cool car!

 

I too am a fan of Mr. Peabody and Sherman. Although Dudley Do-Right is more apropos.

Bouncing around Northern Europe from about 1,000 to 1,900, with specific visits with some ancestors. Just to chat and drink what was available, and to try a wide variety of Farmhouse and Smoked beers.

Maybe one quick visit to Jacob Ruppert’s office late December 1919, to throw back a Knickerbocker with him and the Babe.

 

Unless I’m mistaken; That beer came from Texarkana in les than 28hr’s.

 

I’d like to try the porters that were popular before prohibition.