Kentucky Commons

I've also been interested in the style for years and have been working on perfecting a homebrew recipe based off a 1902 brewing book by Wahl and Henius in which the recipe is not sour. I didn't get a chance to try it, but Apocalypse in Louisville brewed an old Oertel's recipe that also wasn't sour.

 

Upstate makes a kentucky common that I think is darn tasty. The only really interesting fact that I know about this style I dug up in some kind of publication from olden times online. I cannot reference it and I do apologize. This beer was called a present use ale. It had to go from tank to table in a very short time. 8- 10 days is what I think I read. IMO that must have had to do with taxes on stored kegs. Of course I could be wrong about the reason for the short time limit given to produce this beer.The adjunct in the only example of this style that I have had makes this beer taste a lot like corn flakes with a bit of sugar on them. And while I do think souring may have happened due to kegging in wooden barrel I do not think it is preferable because of the delectable flavor that I tasted in upstate's common sense. I think that this beer is meant to be drunk very fresh and should not be too hoppy. Any additional abv would appear on the palate loudly and if you notice upstates couple of measly tenths over does lightly impact the flavor and the finish.

 

The day I tick my 104th style.

 

Local Option has a bourbon barrel aged Kentucky Common which I thought was pretty good. They have a non BA version, but I did not try it.

 

Yeah, "Present use" ales (which included US ale styles like cream ale, sparkling ale, lively or brilliant ale, etc.) were ales that were bottled/kegged without a long secondary or aging period, typically carbonated to lager beer levels - thus the descriptive terms "lively" and "sparkling". As opposed to US "stock ales" (like IPAs) that were long aged at the brewery, typically in larger casks or other vessels, and often bottled/kegged and served "still" - with little to no carbonation.

How so? "Taxes" - at least on the Federal level - would have had nothing to do with it, since in the pre-Pro era kegs were taxes by the brewer buying tax stamps of the correct size (1/8, 1/6, 1/4, 1/2, 1 bbl) and attaching them to the kegs only when leaving the brewery - i.e., even if a beer were to be aged at the brewery in the keg (not typical for most US brewers by the late 19th century), the stamp wouldn't be applied until it was ready to ship.
From Wahl and Henius' American Handy Book of Brewing...(depending on edition, around pg. 1040-1050s):

__________
As for what today are called Kentucky Common beers, from what I've read in contemporary sources (granted, I don't have access to much of that material due to geography) I don't think those beers were very different from the so-called "common beers" that were brewed and sold by many brewers in the first half of the nineteenth century - especially before the introduction of lager yeast in the US, mid-century.

It just seems to have been a region* where the style continued to be brewed - and remained popular - long after it had died off most everywhere else. The were brewed in many - but not all - cases by very small and relatively "primitive" breweries - some articles suggest sometimes by unlicensed breweries. Lots of common beers seem to have been of very low ABV and many alcohol laws of the time referred to "intoxicating" beverages - some argued that that designation meant common beer was not covered by such laws due to it low alcohol content. For instance, the author of an 1888 article in the Jeffersonville Clark County (IN) Republican newspaper, calling lager beer "stronger and more alcoholic" than common beer, went on to say:

* Despite the currently used name of "Kentucky Common" (obviously from Wahl and Henius usage) contemporary ads of the time typically referred to it as just "Common Beer" or sometimes "Louisville Common Beer", or other brewery cities, such as "Huntingburg Common Beer". As noted by the latter town name, common beers were also still being brewed in the region (Ohio River valley) in Indiana and Ohio into the last quarter of the century. There were also beers advertised as "Cream Common Beer" and "Common Bock Beer" - suggesting there was no one specific recipe/set of criteria for "common beer" in the region - it was simply a top fermented beer.

My favorite aspect of the common beers in that region is that "growlers" were sold by the pound, rather than by liquid volume. A nickel bought 1.25 pounds of lager but 1.75 pounds of common beer in 1890s in Louisville. This prevented the arguments that often occurred with growler fills of the many different types of buckets, jugs and pitchers used elsewhere over the quantity and size of the head, etc. (Some claim the etymology of the term "growler" comes from those disagreements between bartender and customer).

 

I did not know why so I surmised. =) It seemed strange to me that I would have read an actual limit on the number of days it had to be done.

 

Oh, OK - so you were saying that by tax regulation a "present use" ale would have to meet that criteria? Yeah, I never heard of that but with 48 states (plus DC) also having their individual state tax laws...it'd take a lot of research.

Certainly the alcoholic beverage laws and tax regulation were a mess even before Prohibition and legal and tax conflicts were common between brewers and regulators. Some states had a sliding tax rate, based on ABV, etc. Weiss beer brewers were long in conflict with the "tax stamp" regulation since they did not keg their beers but only bottled (to allow for bottle conditioning that carbonated the style). Other notable conflicts were when cities started outlawing beer sales on Sunday and some bars continued to sell beer by calling it "schank beer" of a lower ABV that did not fall under the Sunday closing laws, etc.

 

I am going to believe your sources and not my memory =)

 

Summit brewing made one few years ago, as apart of their Unchained series. It was called "Old 152." I thought it phenomenal. Very unique malt character that gave it a biscuit/bread flavor. I would love to see it return.

 

Old 152 from Summit was really good. Try the Kentucky Common from Sisyphus.It is really tasty

 

Back in May, Bluegrass Brewing hosted the Derby City BrewFest in Louisville, and 8 breweries from Kentucky and Indiana brought their interpretations of the style: http://louisvillebeer.com/beer-events/derby-city-brewfest-an-uncommon-beer-festival-on-derby-eve/

They've already announced the date for 2016: http://derbycitybrewfest.com/

Meanwhile, here's a little more background on a type of beer that continues to evolve: http://appellationbeer.com/blog/session-100-what-makes-a-beer-historically-accurate/

 

I thought these excerpts below from the 1867 book Amerikanische Reise-Skizzen aus dem Gebiete der Technik: Landwirthschaft und des socialen Lebens by Ludwig Häcker were interesting in the context of this thread and the topic of American common beer.
Page 142:
"With each of the methods mentioned, with the exception of the common beer brewery, beers intended for storing are brewed. Ale brewed for storing is called stock ale; while the fermentation period for common beer and regular ale, which differs from the latter through a higher original extract and refinement, lasts for 2 to 3 days, the stock ale remains for 4 to 6 days, the Scottish ale for a week in fermentation."

Page 143 talking about using molasses produced from sugar beets in beer brewing:
"In producing the American common beer some brewers use an addition of syrup of at least half a gallon per barrel. 1 and 3/4ths of a gallon cost 77 cents in New York and is meant to replace 1 bushel of malt worth 180 cents."


Page 164
"The watermash brewery or infusion method is not only used in the fabrication of ale and in countless small and middle sized brewing operations, which are mostly owned by Germans, in brewing the top fermented so called common beers, but also for the fabrication of bottom fermented lager beers is this procedure with many modifications in use and loved."

From page 170 (speaking of the process after primary fermentation has ended):
"The bunged common beer or ale is sent out immediately if in a pinch, but typically after some 24 hours. From good materials and well made even the common beer is a clear, to a high degree foaming, tolerable beverage. With an addition of corn in its production it obtains the property of holding the carbonation longer and withstands the souring much longer: a tapped barrel of corn-malt ale of a mere 12 percent original wort content remained, in my establishment in New York, clear and clean tasting in a heated room for three weeks, until the last drop was tapped. When one sees, that this beverage of the working class all too often is a cloudy mixture, consisting of a yeast and molasses taste, stale and sour, then the spreading of my corn-brewing method for the eastern-American cities, from a humanitarian point of view, seems highly desirable."

From pages 171-172
"From the following examples, all of which are taken from breweries, in which I spent a shorter or longer amount of time, is evident, how very shifting the ratio of the grist is, each in accordance with the demands of the public and, more importantly still, in accordance with the effectiveness of the construction and operations of the brewery.

1st example. For common beer, and for a brew of 40 barrels, a grist of 84 bushles malt, for 100 barrels 210 bushels. The hop additions consisted of 2 pounds per barrel. For pale ale, that is the pale ale inteded for brief storage, the grist is increased by 1/6th.

2nd example. For 40 barrels of finished wort of common beer 72 bushesl of malt, for 100 barrels 180 bushels malt.
2 pounds of hops per barrel.

3rd example. In a smaller brewery for 33 barrels finished wort 51½ bushels, for 100 barrels common beer 155 bushels. For the same brew 36 pounds hops, 2 pounds carrageen moss, 16 pounds pitching yeast.

4th example. In a highly renowned pale ale factory was used for 50 barrels of finished wort 80 bushels malt, for 100 barrels 160 bushels.
The hop addition for a brew of 50 barrels was 90 pounds.
On the whole the hop addition for common beer and pale ale ranges between 1 to 3 pounds per barrel.
In well constructed factory operations is used for these lighter beer types 150 bushels of malt.
Common beer has an original extract content of 11 to 13%
Pale ale has an original extract content of 12 to 14%
Stock ale has an original extract content of 14 percent and upwards."

It is interesting to see the common beer breweries being associated with Germans (since the term is so associated with Anglo Saxon England), although with the brewing traditions of the northern parts of what is now Germany in mind it makes sense that immigrated Germans from these regions would have been engaged in this trade (if indeed that was the place of origin of these Germans, the author does not make it clear where they were from).

 

Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of it until after the fact this year. I might try to make it in 2016 though...

Oh, and we'll be revisiting Beer Styles and Beer 101 next year, so stay tuned.

 

I went last year, and it was a cool-if-relatively-low-key event that provided an opportunity to try a range of attempts at the style (that, admittedly, isn't a favorite). I will say that if you're planning to visit Louisville, that's probably the weekend to do it, things-to-do wise.

 

Yeah, I think in the US in that early/mid-century period it was primarily German brewers who did not yet have access or an adequate supply of good lager yeast who were brewing top fermented "common beer" (or, maybe, more appropriately, called "common" beer?) - and as the yeast became more available, most of those breweries became lager breweries. Many of the larger KY-IN-OH breweries that brewed that region's "common beer" were also lager brewers and sold the two products side-by-side. In addition, many of the "brewers guides" industry publications of the time listed common beer brewers as lager brewers - see below from 1896 (which doesn't help with researching the style).

I've just never seen any evidence of the late 19th century-early 20th century "Kentucky common beers" being very much different, or why it would be considered unique from, the other, earlier common beers.

A good, current source of info (with a tip o' the mouse to @hopfenunmaltz ) is http://www.bjcp.org/docs/NHC2014-kycommon-handout.pdf

That also reminded me that I put together some ads and articles on Kentucky Common.

 

Against the Grain in KY makes Kamen Knuddelin, but the Local Option/AtG BA Kentucky Common was great, though not an accurate representation of the style, according to my more knowledgeable beer friends.

 

Yeah from what I've read so far I would agree with you on this, Kentucky common beer was simply common beer (which was no longer so common by the early 1900s). With ale breweries moving towards cream/sparkling ales on the one hand and former common beer breweries moving towards lager beer brewing the brewing of common beer became less common, leading Wahl and Henius to using the term Kentucky common beer (which then takes on a life of its own in recent years with the idea of sour mashing etc.).

Aside from the issue of yeast the problem of cooling might also have played a role for some German immigrants in opting for common beer brewing (where the climatical/geographical conditions weren't favorable). In the book Häcker also writes (on page 160)

"The construction of the fermentation and lagering cellars, which I encountered in Dobbs Ferry and American lager beer breweries in general, offered nothing worth noting. There were some stately, rationally constructed lager cellar constructions, but in general the workings were left to the favorable conditions offered by nature, rather than being artificially regulated.

The lager cellars were often not at all, or at least less carefully equipped with ice, than is the case in this country (Austria Hungary), because of this I encountered in August and September cellar temperatures of 8 to 10 degrees reaumur (10-12.5 degrees celsius) and beers where - if they at all remained drinkable - the degree of attenuation was shown to have progressed to the fullest extent, and apart from displaying the most complete degree of brilliancy, no longer excelled in any of its properties.

The acquiring of ice is - and herein lies the explanation for the incompleteness of the American lager cellars - in large areas of the United States uncertain, and during most of the year too costly, for it to be the basis of the brewing industry entirely. The winter cold at the latitudinal gradient of New York for example typically does not last, so quickly does the weather change, that cold weather of 8-10 degrees reaumur can be followed in a few hours by a shower of rain. As I talked about in the touristical part of my travel sketches, in areas to the south the brewer gets the necessary quantity of ice day by day from the ice company.

Cold springwater for cooling the beer wort and naturally suitable cellars - these are the two foundations of the brewing industry in the southern parts of the country. In the north of course the American lager beer breweries possess in their ice houses an achievement, which can be compared with the finest results of our own beer industry."