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.