The below linked beer video review of a Victorian Porter got me thinking about this topic. As a homebrewer I occasionally brew beers of yore. I think my first historical homebrew was a Classic American Pilsner which is the beer style which was popular in the later 1800’s in America. One example would be the Pabst beer (branded as Select) that won the top prize at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Another historical beer I annually homebrew is a reconstruction of the original Michelob beer of 1896. The challenge for recreating historical beers is that the barley varieties grown in the 1800’s are likely not available now. There are some exceptions with one example being Chevallier barley which was first grown in early 1800’s and there are malting companies that provide Chevallier malt today (e.g., Crisp Malting Co.). There are hop varieties grown in the 1800’s that are readily available today (e.g., East Kent Goldings, Fuggles, Saaz,…). How close the malts of today are to what was used in the 1800’s? Same with hops? And yeast/fermentation is likely very different since for most of the 1800’s they would have been mixed cultures while in the 20th Century (and today) single strain yeasts are typically used to ferment beer. I suppose the above is more than most folks want to know but the question remains. How interested are you in purchasing and drinking a historical beer? As just one example, would you want to drink a Victorian Porter as detailed in the below video review? Are there other historical beer styles you wish were more readily available to you? Cheers!
I would love to see recreations of historical styles in stores. I always enjoy finding “pre-prohibition style lagers” based on old recipes, so other styles would be very welcome.
Always interested in trying an historical style or recipe when I see one on offer. Formerly local to me is Muddy York Brewing Company (they’ve moved to north of the city). They’ve worked with a local beer historian on a couple beers in the past that I’ve eagerly sought out. Harder to get for me, but always worth the effort is Brasserie Albion in Joliette, Québec. They’ve brewed countless historical styles/ recipes. At the moment they are selling what they call a ‘Bière de table seigneuriale.’ They describe it as an 18th century style blond British table beer, a cousin to what we know as saison. https://www.brasseriealbion.com/produit/12-bushels/ Closer to home is one I need to grab before it sells out. Blood Brothers in Toronto put out an oatmeal stout last week made with a recipe from 1896. https://www.bloodbrothersbrewing.com/collections/drinkables/products/roses-oatmeal-sout
To me, 'enjoying' historical beers has two facets to consider: Whether I enjoy the adventure and educational part of trying a historical beer. Whether I may or may not enjoy the beer itself. If these historical beer recipes died out, maybe there's a reason, which mostly would seem that the consumers of these beers found something better. So maybe they're not so good tasting and died for a reason. But the anticipation of drinking a revived beer is the most exciting part to me, and I'll definitely drink it if I find one. And I doubt that any of them would taste like pure sludge water, so I'm likely to at least be neutral on my enjoyment of the taste.
In general, I think there are some old style beers I would welcome being revived. But I think a lot of the changes in the primarily American, craft beer have moved way beyond what was historically available. To be honest, except for Belgian, I’ve lost interest in all other European beers as being boring.
I think that a lot of the historical type recipes died off just as much due to taxation (esp. in Britain) and cost saving measures as they did due to changes in consumer tastes. Some of the old styles of Belgium and Britain don't seem like they'd be economically sound to brew on an industrial scale. It's a wonder we still have lambic.
I remember trying a lot of those over a decade ago when we first got into craft, but that urge was kinda beat out of us because so many of them were not enjoyable. But I still like trying different Kentucky Commons, and when we visited an out-of-state brewery recently, I gave the brewer my last Burl Brew 1850, and he lit up like I'd brought him a white whale, so I'll try to keep one handy for future travels.
I love historical beers! As I've said before, I was a big fan of Pretty Things' "Once Upon a Time" series. I also really liked Ancient Ales that DFH did. Most of them weren't things that I would drink regularly, but it was always cool to check them out. I would drink the 1855 EIP everyday if it was still made and at a similar price point to the bigger craft brewers regular offerings.
German and English beers are boring!?!? I don’t think it gets any more interesting than Augustiner from a Hirsch, or Timothy Taylor Landlord on cask.
Definitely an interesting subject. As stated, though, kind of a problematic adventure because of the vast differences in all aspects of brewing these beers on a modern brewing system, with modern ingredients, and modern techniques, as compared to historical ones. Lars (and his blog) addresses a lot of these idiosyncrasies in farmhouse brewing. A deep rabbit hole, but well worth the read, if you like this kind of subject matter. Understanding farmhouse ale | Larsblog Another awesome source for historical beers is Shut up about Barclay Perkins
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most historical beers would probably leave the modern beer geek with his socks firmly on his feet. Might they be good? Sure. The best beer you'd ever consumed? Probably not. Our palates are just spoiled by all the variation and complexity of modern beer. These beers would be little more than novelty, in most instances. Not saying I wouldn't try them. Just saying my expectations wouldn't be real high.
No doubt that a lot of them end up tasting like an unwanted bastard offspring of an Oud Bruin and Old Ale. Not always my idea of an excellent beer, but always exciting to try, especially when an historian is involved in the brewing of it.
If you had tried the 1855 EIP, you'd change your tune. Perfect balance between a BIPA and an old school American Imperial Stout, a la Storm King.
Preach! It’s not like brewers can bring in their teenaged children to pulp all that overripe guava! That takes expertise!
