Classic American Pilsner

The hops are key. That's the main reason why damn near every AAL is so insipid; once the hops are at or near pilsner levels you have a characterful and refreshing beer. Beer geeks have been conditioned to hate adjuncts, but they have been led astray in that regard.

 

Coors Batch 19 is the only one I've ever seen.

 

Nothing you can get, unfortunately. If you're ever in PA, though, you can get Yuengling Lord Chesterfield (AAL ) or Straub 1872 (CAP ).

 

Plus, it's not as if American craft brewers aren't using adjuncts. It's just the large percentage of their use in American Adjunct Lagers (plus the lack of hops as you pointed out) that is problematic for many beer drinkers.

Doesn't Founders All Day IPA have adjuncts in it? I believe even Heady Topper might.

 

Yeah, lots of US all-malt lagers in the pre-Pro era but most of them wouldn't have been described or labeled as a "pilsner" by the brewers. They tended to not be as popular with the general American population as the same brewer's "pils/Bohemian/light lager" adjunct beers - Pabst's all malt "Bavarian" was selling 70k bbl. in 1897 while their then-best selling "Bohemian" was nearly 600k bbl (so, before their light lager Select/Blue Ribbon brand became their flagship).

As Adolphus Busch told the congressional "Pure Food" hearing in 1901 "... the beer of this company is made entirely of barley malt, hops and yeast, except that some rice is used in order to make a very pale beer of the Bohemian type..." (so, essentially his best-selling "Budweiser" brand).

IIRC, Anheuser-Busch also claimed to have brought a type of 2-row barley to the US and contracted to have it grown for AB in the pre-Pro era ( @JackHorzempa - didn't we discuss this re: Michelob's 1890s origins - I can't find it currently.)

Trommer's pre-Pro beer, Trommer's Special Pilsener Style (they also brewed a Muenchner and a Wuerzburger) was brewed "...exclusively of the costliest Imported Hops* and the highest grade of Imported Barley-Malt obtainable". (* Other ads in the 1900s claimed "only Selected Imported Saazer hops".)

Safe to suggest that it was that beer that evolved into their post-Repeal "Trommer's White Label Malt Beer" and it was unique for a relatively large brewery (#12 in the US at 1m bbl. in 1947) to have an all-malt flagship but there were a number of other US all-malt beers still around in the post-Repeal era (among them such well-known brands as Michelob, Pabst Andeker, Matt's and Genesee). At least by the 1940s two row Hannchen and Hanna barley was being grown OR, CA, MT and WA, but a quick review of Trommer's info and they don't seem to mention their barley malt source post-Repeal.

What might be surprising to some modern beer geeks is that, even while they were the best known all-malt brewer, Trommer's stressed how light their beer was because they didn't use corn or rice. (They also brewed an all-malt ale using imported Kent hops for a short time in the post-Repeal period).

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Yes, the Founders head Brewer explicitly mentioned that at the NHC in Grand Rapids.

 

JK, I do recall that you made mention of this topic in correspondence but I am not aware of a source of information here. For me you are the source of this information.

Cheers!

Jack

 

nice glass for this beer

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But what specifically? Easy Jack uses flaked oats, which are an adjunct, but built body, not lighten flavor. Adjuncts can be used for several reasons and in Session IPA, it's usually not to lighten the beer. Malt character being too light is the most common complaint that I see with the style.

I would think that adjunct usage in IPA and Double IPA is much higher since corn sugar is such a common ingredient in those styles to lighten body.

 

The Post Brewing's Howdy Beer is looking like it will be in my fridge a lot. It packs a ton of flavor in a 4.5% package-I would never pass it up for a session IPA.

 

He didn't say specifically. It went "half base malt, then adjuncts and specialty malts for the rest". If you or someone you work with are in the AHA you can hear the talk here. 2014 conference, ",Kaminski Spills the Beans"
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/resources/conference-seminars/

 

I know of two contemporary examples made in Minnesota: 612 Gateway Park, and Tin Whiskers Parity Pilsner. I really like both of them.

 

Sorry, one of the biggest breweries in the country.

http://tivolibrewingco.com/the-tivoli-story/

 

You mean where they say "...By the 1950s, the brewery became one of the largest breweries in the county by producing up to 150,000 barrels a year..." ? I guess that is a typo since there doesn't seem to have been any other breweries in Denver County by the 1950s - Colorado was down to 3 breweries by the 1940s - Coors in Golden (Jefferson County) and Walter's in Pueblo (Pueblo County).

But a fellow Wobbly should know better than to believe the Brewery Capitalists when it comes to such claims .

In the 1950s, a barrelage of 150,000 bbl/yr would put a brewery somewhere in the mid-100s (1950) to the mid-70s (1959). Post-Repeal records show that the only time Tivoli was even among the Top 100 brewers in the US was in the period between 1962 and 1968 when their barrelage fell from 67,000 bbl. to 38,000 bbl. before closing.

 

Guess that would make it the largest, wouldn't it?

What about this statement:

Seems pretty noteworthy... especially since A-B was west of the Mississippi.

 

Ha, yeah, I'm just reading the other "claims" on that website, like:

Well, just off hand, there was still P. Ballantine & Sons (1840), Pabst (1844), Schaefer (1842), Stegmaier (1857) and, of course, still brewin' in New Ulm, MN - August Schell (1860). I'd imagine a bit of research would turn up numerous others.

 

Anchor California Lager is phenomenal. I just wanted to put that out there.

 

I enjoy most (all) styles, but I'm not familiar with this style. I've had California Lager and liked it, but I see that Batch 19 is a different style on BA. Perhaps I haven't been paying attention, but I can't quite put my finger on the definition of the style. BJCP American Lager? I know, drink what I like