American Lagers in Canada in 1909

Life is full of surprises. Occasionally pleasant ones. The little booklet of Canadian beers analyses from just before WW I contained one of the nicer type.

Because it contained a surprising number of analyses for beer brewed in the USA. 18 of the 77 analyses, to be precise. The booklet lists beer by the district in which they were sold, so I can see incursions of US beer weren’t just limited to border regions: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and British Colombia. Clearly US beer was a big thing in Canada.

A couple of interesting points. First, there were only two US brewed beers amongst the Ales, both brewed in  Washington State. While there were 7 beers from the UK. All IPAs, which is intriguing. The US Lagers mostly come from the Midwest. Specifically, from St. Louis and Milwaukee. Not so much of a shock that, I suppose. That was where the large Lager breweries evolved. There are also a couple of beers from the Pacific Northwest and two from New York, which remained an important brewing centre, for Lager as well as for Ale.

There’s not a huge amount of variation in these beers. The lowest OG is 1044.6º, the highest 1050.6º. There’s rather more difference in attenuation – 57.4% to 81.33%. Though most are around 70%. That might seem low today, but was pretty typical of Lagers back then.

It’s clear that even by this early date Anheuser Busch was a major player. Especially in the form of Budweiser. It appears more often in the booklet than any other beer, including those brewed in Canada. Though, to be fair, Canadian still seems to have been quite regional at this point.

I’m not going to pester with too many words today. Just leave you with some lovely numbers.

American Lagers in Canada in 1909
Brewer	Town	Beer	Style	Price	size	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	13.3c	bottle	1048.1	1016.1	4.56	66.53%
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	16.67c	pint	1048.6	1015.6	4.63	67.90%
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	25c	quart	1048.8	1015.1	4.71	69.06%
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	12.5c	pint	1050	1015.5	4.85	69.00%
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	15c	pint	1050.3	1015.3	4.93	69.58%
Anheuser Busch	St. Louis	Budweiser	Pilsner	25c	quart	1050.6	1015.3	5.00	69.76%
America Brewing Co.	St. Louis	ABC Bohemia	Pilsner	25c	quart	1049	1013	5.08	73.47%
Dorfes Brewery	Washington	Lager Beer	Lager	16.67c	quart	1049.2	1011.8	5.16	76.02%
Ebling Brewing Co.	New York	Sunlight	Lager	10c	bottle	1046.5	1015.8	4.42	66.02%
Everard Brewing Co.	New York	Red Star	Lager	11.67c	pint	1047.1	1016.6	4.34	64.76%
Schlitz	Milwaukee	Lager Beer	Lager	15c	bottle	1045.4	1013.8	4.42	69.60%
Schlitz	Milwaukee	Schlitz	Lager	11.67c	bottle	1045.9	1014	4.49	69.50%
Schlitz	Milwaukee	Lager Beer	Lager	12.5c	pint	1046.4	1011.4	4.93	75.43%
Schlitz	Milwaukee	Lager Beer	Lager	13.3c	bottle	1046.9	1011.3	5.00	75.91%
Schlitz	Milwaukee	Lager Beer	Lager	12.67c	bottle	1046.9	1009.6	5.24	79.53%
Lemps	St. Louis	Lager Beer	Lager	25c	quart	1048.2	1009	5.47	81.33%
Pabst	Milwaukee	Blue Ribbon	Lager	12.5c	pint	1044.6	1019	3.62	57.40%
Seattle Brewing & Malting	Seattle	Lager Beer	Lager	20c	pint	1047.1	1012.5	5.47	73.46%
Average						1047.8	1013.9	4.79	70.79%
Source:
"Ale and lager beer" by McGill, A. (Anthony), 1910, pages 4 - 19.