Sunday 11 January 2015

Nationally-distributed pre-Prohibition bottled beers

Yet more stuff from the Wahls’ book. This time I’m lifting no text, just a table.

But it’s a very important table. One that offers a glimpse into the world of American pre-Prohibition beers. It’s not just telling us about the physical nature of specific beers, it’s also saying what type of beers were popular and where they were brewed.

Now I knew that Milwaukee was a major brewing town. But I hadn’t quite realised how important it was nationally. 22 of the 35 beers in the table were brewed there. What’s even more interesting is that just one beer wasn’t brewed in the Mid-West – Salvator from Munich.

There’s not a single beer from the East Coast. Which is odd, as I know that as late as the 1930’s New York produced more beer than any other state, 17.5% of total production. Followed by another eastern state, Pennsylvania*. I infer from this that the beer brewed in the East was mostly consumed fairly locally. Not so odd as those were also the most populous states.

A disadvantage Eastern brewers had was that they brewed a large percentage of Ales, for which the demand decreased the further West you went. While the Mid-Western brewers were Lager all the way. I’m pretty sure than not a single beer in the table is an Ale.

A word about the styles in the table. I’ve added them, as the original table only had the beer name. They’re mostly my guess, though most I’ve simply classified as Lager.

Here’s the table. You may recognise a few names.

Nationally-distributed pre-Prohibition bottled beers
Brewer Town Beer Style Acidity FG OG OG Plato ABV App. Atten-uation
Pabst  Milwaukee Bock Bock 0.22 1023.2 1058.0 14.31 4.25 58.70%
Paulaner Munich Salvator Doppelbock 0.39 1033.5 1071.2 17.36 4.7 51.27%
Average 0.31 1028.3 1064.6 15.84 4.48 54.98%
Blatz  Milwaukee Muenchener Dunkles Export 0.19 1021.1 1055.9 13.81 4.39 60.97%
Miller  Milwaukee Muenchener Dunkles Export 0.19 1018.3 1053.1 13.16 4.41 64.36%
Pabst  Milwaukee Bavarian Dunkles Export 0.23 1027.7 1059.7 14.7 3.71 52.24%
Average 0.20 1022.4 1056.2 13.89 4.17 59.19%
Blatz  Milwaukee Export Export 0.189 1014.5 1050.0 12.42 4.52 69.89%
Schlitz  Milwaukee Export Export 0.18 1016.1 1049.4 12.29 4.35 66.31%
Hammond  Hammond, Indiana Mühlhauser Export 0.17 1015.1 1060.5 14.9 5.73 74.03%
Average 0.18 1015.2 1053.3 13.20 4.87 70.08%
Blatz  Milwaukee Private Stock Lager 0.19 1013.9 1050.8 12.62 4.71 71.71%
Cream City  Milwaukee A. I. Cream Lager 0.18 1014.0 1048.3 12.02 4.21 69.97%
Cream City  Milwaukee Edelbräu Lager 0.216 1016.3 1056.2 13.88 5.05 69.81%
Cream City  Milwaukee Extra Stock Lager 0.19 1013.9 1048.0 11.94 4.25 69.93%
Gettelman  Milwaukee Pride Lager 0.15 1011.0 1043.1 10.77 4.13 73.72%
Gettelman  Milwaukee Best Lager 0.2 1013.2 1046.7 11.65 4.3 70.90%
Gettelman  Milwaukee Natural Lager 0.18 1012.4 1047.7 11.87 4.52 73.13%
Miller  Milwaukee Buffet Lager 0.18 1015.1 1053.3 13.21 4.83 70.55%
Pabst  Milwaukee Red, white & blue Lager 0.16 1015.1 1047.0 11.72 3.43 66.81%
Pabst  Milwaukee Doppelbräu Lager 0.27 1025.0 1056.2 13.89 3.71 54.21%
Schlitz  Milwaukee Pale Lager 0.18 1016.0 1046.9 11.69 3.93 64.76%
Grand Rapids  Grand Rapids Silver Foam Lager 0.15 1013.2 1049.9 12.4 4.5 72.66%
Hammond  Hammond, Indiana Malt Extract Lager 0.18 1018.9 1054.6 13.51 4.41 64.17%
Heilemann  La Crosse Old Style Lager Lager 0.16 1010.8 1044.9 11.2 4.32 75.09%
McAvoy  Chicago Club Lager 0.16 1015.1 1049.6 12.33 4.36 68.45%
McAvoy  Chicago Alma Mater Lager 0.16 1015.0 1051.6 12.81 4.43 69.87%
Schoenhofen  Chicago Edelweis Lager 0.22 1014.9 1048.1 11.97 4.25 68.09%
Schoenhofen  Chicago Select Lager 0.21 1014.1 1046.7 11.63 4.16 68.70%
Tosetti  Chicago Majestic Lager 0.18 1018.7 1056.3 13.91 4.75 65.49%
Average 0.19 1015.1 1049.8 12.37 4.33 68.84%
Cream City  Milwaukee Pilsner Pilsner 0.17 1014.5 1048.0 11.94 4.16 68.84%
Independ. Milw.  Milwaukee Pilsner Pilsner 0.18 1013.9 1047.1 11.74 4.12 69.59%
Miller  Milwaukee High Life Pilsner 0.19 1018.3 1057.0 14.08 4.72 66.69%
Pabst  Milwaukee Blue Ribbon Pilsner 0.17 1016.5 1047.5 11.82 3.66 64.13%
Anheuser Busch  St. Louis Budweiser Pilsner 0.2 1014.1 1051.8 12.86 4.8 71.70%
Tosetti  Chicago Bohemian Pilsner 0.17 1012.8 1038.5 9.66 3.19 65.84%
Average 0.18 1015.0 1048.3 12.02 4.11 67.80%
Blatz  Milwaukee Wiener Vienna Lager 0.19 1013.9 1050.8 12.62 4.71 71.71%
Source:
"Beer from the Expert's Viewpoint" by Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937, page 168.

Interesting, eh? A general point first. It looks to me as if some of the beers are the same, just with a different name. For example, there are three Cream City beers with almost identical gravities: A. I. Cream, Extra Stock and Pilsner.

The three Muenchener beers look very much like the Wahls’ description of the style: around 14º Balling and a low degree of attenuation.

At just over 13º Balling, the average for the Exports looks about right, but that doesn’t really match any of the three examples. Two are just over 12º Balling and the third almost 15º Balling. I don’t think that’s really telling us anything.

Most of the beers I’ve classified as Lager have gravities around 12º Balling, though there are some over 13º Balling. The average degree of attenuation, at just under 70%, is about what you’d expect. Though it looks quite poor by modern standards.

The Pilsners average out to almost exactly 12º Balling, though there are two real outliers, Miller High Life  and Tosetti Bohemian. The latter looks like a Czech vycepni pivo, with a gravity of just under 10º Balling.

I’m not sure that the single Vienna Lager tells us much, other than to confirm a pretty standard gravity.

I’m not totally finished mining the Wahls’ book. Still something on beer colour to go.




* Journal of the Institute of Brewing, Volume 42, Issue 5, September-October 1936, pages 416.

7 comments:

Jeff Renner said...

Image of the table please. Thanks. BTW, this is red meat to me. I have the book but your tables are great.

J. Karanka said...

I quite like the look of the Blatz range. Would be nice to have something similar readily available in the supermarket in the UK. Blazt sounds like a catchier name, though.

What's up with Pabst? All their beers seem really weak, often with attenuation just about scratching over 55%.

Anonymous said...

Ron,
Is the Salvator doppelbock listed that way in 1937? Wasn't the style called salvator still at that time?

Thanks.

Matt

Anonymous said...

Any information on what kind of hops might be used and where they were grown for some of these?

Ron Pattinson said...

Matt,

Paulaner trademarked Salvator in the late 19th century abd no-one else could use the name.

Ron Pattinson said...

Anonymous,

most likely west coast Cluster.

Ron Pattinson said...

J. Karanka,

I was quite surprised by the diffrence in ABV between some of the names I recognise.