Pre-Prohibition Lager
Can you believe there was a time before Budweiser? It may be a ubiquitous presence in the US (and around the world) today, but Budweiser has a long history. In fact, the first Budweiser recipe was formulated by Carl Conrad and first brewed in 1876 at the Busch Brewery in St. Louis, Missouri. By 1880 Adolphus Busch was the sole owner and president of the brewery and the brewery was renamed the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association. Adolphus Busch purchased the trademark and brand of Budweiser in 1891.
Budweiser was a very successful beer brand when it launched; it met the demands of thirsty American beer drinkers who wanted lagers that were pale in color and lighter in body than the ales that were available during that time. Budweiser was a classic American Adjunct Lager (AAL) and was brewed with a grain bill that was a combination of North American 6-row barley malt and rice as an adjunct. The brewers of that era (most of them of German heritage) learned that combining adjuncts with the native North American 6-row malt resulted in a beer that was both clear in appearance plus lighter bodied to create an appealing and less satiating beer that many American beer drinkers wanted to drink. The AALs of that time were highly hopped so that they would have a robust hop presence in terms of both bitterness and hop flavor/aroma compared to modern day AALs of today. The 1876 Budweiser was no Bud Light!
Adolphus Busch had an entrepreneurial spirit, and while Budweiser was successful, during a trip to Bohemia he was inspired by the local beers to produce another lager to expand his brand portfolio; he was to name this beer Michelob. Michelob was first brewed in 1896, and according to an article in the magazine The American Mercury from the 1920s, at the time, “Michelob was perhaps the best beer ever made in America and the most expensive; it sold for twenty-five cents a glass. In New York, at one bar at least, it was sold for forty cents by a barkeep who told his patrons that it was imported.”
As we all know from history, the United States passed the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920, which created a constitutional ban on the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages known as Prohibition. (The article quoted earlier was published during this time.) Prohibition was the law of the land until the US ratified the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment. Needless to say, the effects of Prohibition on the US brewing industry was far reaching. A-B stopped brewing beer during those 13 years, but remained in business during Prohibition, producing non-alcohol products such as soft drinks, truck bodies, ice cream, and a non-alcohol cereal beverage called Bevo during that time, but it wasn’t until the late 1930s that the brewing industry started to make a comeback in America. To find out what that original pre-Prohibition Michelob might have tasted like, I decided to dig into brewing history a little and try brewing my own.
A Continental Lager in America
Before doing any brewing of my own, I had to try and find some historical sources of information about the original Michelob recipe. Unfortunately no Anheuser-Busch brewery logbooks exist from 1896 so what is known about that first Michelob is available only via news articles and history books, which provide some details. By all reports Michelob was brewed solely with malt (no adjuncts) and since it was inspired by the lagers of Bohemia (Bohemian Pilsners) it can be assumed that imported hops were used to produce this beer.
Thankfully there is descriptive text about Michelob of the time, plus there are two excellent brewing books of that period:
American Handy-Book of the Brewing, Malting and Auxiliary Trades by Robert Wahl & Max Henuis, 1902 (available as a Google e-book)
One Hundred Years of Brewing: A Complete History of the Progress Made in the Art, Science and Industry of Brewing During the Nineteenth Century, (author unknown), 1903
Where to start?
Without the details provided by a brewing logbook, it wasn’t easy to figure out where to begin to reconstruct a beer that was made during the pre-Prohibition timeframe. It was sort of a mystery novel where I needed to discern clues from a number of sources. Beer is comprised of basic ingredients, however, so that’s where I started my research.
Malt
All of the anecdotal text has been consistent that the 1896 Michelob was made solely of malt. The principle malt that was available to US breweries during that time was North American 6-row barley malt. Six-row barley was well suited for growing in North America but it had the feature of being high in protein. This high protein created an issue for breweries and resulted in beers that were hazy in appearance. While this haze can be eliminated through brewing with adjuncts, that is not an option for brewing a Michelob beer. This left me with selecting a 2-row malt, which is lower in protein and can be used 100% without creating haze issues.
Some 2-row barley was grown in North America in 1896, but was likely a costly proposition since 6-row was the predominant type of barley available. It was also possible for barley (or barley malt) to be imported to the US from Europe — but there was a cost associated with that as well.
It was, however, reported in a pre-Prohibition brewing journal (American Brewers’ Review, August, 1915) that North America’s native 2-row barley malt was of very high quality at the time: “. . . two-rowed barleys, . . . reach a quality of excellence compared to that of the best products of the respective types in Europe. [This was] . . . proven at the International Barley and Hop Exhibit in Chicago in 1911, when Western two-rowed barleys were awarded the high prizes. Indeed, one two-rowed barley from Idaho obtained the highest number of points of all in the competition with very ‘classy’ European stock.”
So it would appear that Anheuser-Busch had access to high quality North American 2-row barley to produce Michelob. Recognizing that the goal of Adolphus Busch was to produce a world-class product, but also understanding that he was a businessman as well, it seems reasonable that he might decide to utilize high quality ingredients that were readily available.
In terms of sourcing malt for brewing a reconstruction of a historical beer, a tricky part is that specific barley varieties have a limited life of a few decades before farmers replace them with newly developed varieties. In other words, the barley varieties of circa 1900 no longer exist today as barley malt for brewers. The best that can be done is to select a comparable variety to best recreate the same malt characteristics. For my homebrewed reconstruction of an 1896 Michelob I used what I consider to be high quality North American malt, Rahr Premium Pilsner Malt, which is made from the Harrington barley variety.
A Hopping Good Time
Both American lagers and the lagers of Bohemia (Bohemian Pilsners) were noted for their hoppy nature. Since this seems to be an important (probably critical?) part of brewing Michelob, I decided I needed my detective’s magnifying glass on this topic. Interesting anecdotal stories concerning Bohemian Pilsners are:
During a 1901 meeting of the American Brewing Institute, the brewers in attendance noted that the beers of Pilsen “. . . are famous for their hop flavor and bitter flavor. . . ” and that they used “. . . not only the best obtainable Saaz hops but plenty of them — so evident a fact was this, that (one) might almost describe the city of Pilsen as steeped in hops and redolent of hop aroma.”
And only a few years later, 100 Years of Brewing noted that: “The Bohemian beers . . . possess a fine and strongly noticeable hop flavor (and) a bitter taste . . . ”
The 1902 American Handy-Book of the Brewing, Malting and Auxiliary Trades by Wahl & Henius, on pages 725–726, discusses the typical hopping schedule for American lagers of that time. This is the three-step hopping schedule:
• 2/5th of “fair quality” hops for the bittering addition (a total of 60 minutes of boiling time)
• 2/5th of “better quality” hops for the flavor addition (a total of 20 minutes of boiling time)
• 1/5th of “finest quality” hops for the aroma addition (end of boil)
100 Years of Brewing also provides some clues as to what varieties of hops were imported to the US during that time period: The best being Bohemian “Saazer,” then Bavarian “Spalter,” and then “Holleetan” (Hallertauer?). Other hops that were imported include English Fuggles and Styrian Goldings, which are Fuggles grown in the former Yugoslavia.
The only source that I have found that makes specific mention of hops used in brewing Michelob was in the book For the Love of Hops by Stan Hieronymus. On pg. 166 in the description for Strisselspalt hops he mentions, “. . . Once a staple in Michelob pale lager. . . ”
There is little doubt in my mind that imported hops were used in brewing Michelob but was it solely hopped using imported hops? Without the actual brewing logs there really is no way of knowing for sure.
Based upon the information presented in Wahl & Henius it made sense to me that Michelob was brewed using a triple hop schedule (did I really say triple hopped!?!) and used imported hops with a priority schedule of good – better – best.
How many IBUs did the 1896 Michelob have, though? Needless to say, the measurement of IBUs was not available in 1896 because the first definition of IBU was not agreed upon until 1968. I think it is reasonable to use the exemplary Bohemian Pilsner of Pilsner Urquell to obtain some guidance here. In the article “The History and Brewing Methods of Pilsner Urquell,” author Peter Ensminger quotes sources from Pilsner Urquell Brewery that Pilsner Urquell is brewed to have 40 IBUs. In an article entitled “Bohemian Pilsner: Style Profile” in the November 2009 issue of Brew Your Own, author Jamil Zainasheff provides a recipe for a Bohemian Pilsner calling for 40 IBUs. So it seems to me that a target of 40 IBUs for a reconstruction of a circa-1900 Michelob is appropriate.
What remains is a specific selection of hop varieties and a specific hop schedule. Needless to say classifying a particular hop variety as being good vs. better/best is a subjective task. In my opinion the following spectrum from good to best would be something like Styrian Goldings to Strisselspalt to Saaz. My choice is to make a sort of hybrid selection: Bittering hops: Styrian Goldings; flavor hops: Strisselspalt and Saaz; aroma hops: Strisselspalt and Saaz.
Yeast
Did the Anheuser-Busch brewers of 1896 utilize a ‘special’ lager yeast to brew Michelob or would they use the house lager yeast they use to brew beer brands like Budweiser? I was unable to find any information concerning the yeast management practices of Anheuser-Busch at that time. From my understanding of contemporary commercial breweries there seems to be a preference to utilize house yeast strains for beer styles that are consistent with those strains. It seems to me that a lager like Michelob is a style that would be consistent with the yeast strain that was used to brew Budweiser, so it made sense to me that would be a prudent choice.
On the surface, the choice of yeast strain seems pretty easy: Use the Budweiser yeast strain. According to the Mr. Malty website, maintained by Jamil Zainasheff, the Budweiser yeast strain is listed as Wyeast 2007 (Pilsen Lager) and White Labs WLP840 (American Lager). Wyeast describes the 2007 yeast strain as follows:
“Wyeast 2007 is the classic American lager strain. This mild, neutral strain produces beers with a nice malty character and a smooth palate. It ferments dry and crisp with minimal sulfur or diacetyl. Beers from this strain exhibit the characteristics of the most popular lager in America.”
The most popular lager in America is Bud Light so the Wyeast 2007 strain surely sounds like the Budweiser yeast strain. An American lager yeast strain sounded compatible to me so Wyeast 2007 was my choice for a reconstruction of a circa-1900s Michelob beer.
Water
I was unable to find any information on whether the Anheuser-Busch brewers treated the local St. Louis water for brewing back in 1896, and it was probably unlikely that they did. Even today, A-B uses St. Louis municipal water. So back in 1896 they probably just used St. Louis city water. I obtained a water profile for St. Louis water from the City of St. Louis Water Division, 2013, Consumer Confidence Report: Calcium (Ca ppm) 27.6 (15.9 – 69); Magnesium (Mg ppm) 16.3 (3.2 – 37.0); Sodium (Na ppm) 43.6 (17.1 – 71.6); Chloride (Cl ppm); 25.6 (14.7 – 37.2); Sulfate (SO4 ppm) 135 (60.3–212); Alkalinity, total (ppm) 62 (35 – 92). Logically, since the beer was made in St. Louis, it would make sense to emulate the St. Louis water source; however it’s impossible to know how that water profile would compare to today’s St. Louis water. Another source of water guidance is Kai Troester, who lists a number of recommended water profiles for specific beer styles, including German and American Pilsners, on his blog at http://www.braukaiser.com. I brewed my beer using tap water with gypsum and lactic acid additions. However, it would be worth trying to emulate St. Louis water and comparing the results. If you use Kai’s guidelines, I would recommend using 2% acidulated malt.
So without further ado, I am sharing my homebrew recipe for my circa 1896 Michelob at left. Enjoy!
I also want to offer my thanks to Steve Dafoe, Stan Hieronymus, Bill Pierce, and Peter Wolfe.
Jack’s Original Lager
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.047 FG = 1.011
IBU = 40 SRM = 3 ABV = 4.8%
I have read many historical accounts that indicate that back in the 1800s beers often had higher final gravities than present day beers. Since there are no brewing logbooks for Michelob from those days I have no knowledge what the specific gravities were for a Michelob of that timeframe. These numbers are therefore the values achieved in my homebrewed version.
Ingredients
9.5 lbs. (4.3 kg) Rahr Premium Pilsner malt
9 AAU Styrian Golding hops (75 min.) (2 oz./57 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
0.6 AAU Strisselspalt hops (20 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 1.2% alpha acids)
1.8 AAU Czech Saaz hops (20 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 3.6% alpha acids)
0.6 AAU Strisselspalt hops (0 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 1.2% alpha acids)
1.8 AAU Czech Saaz hops (0 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 3.6% alpha acids)
Wyeast 2007 (Pilsen Lager) or White Labs WLP840 (American Lager) yeast
4 oz. (113 g) corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mill the grains and dough-in targeting a mash of around 1.5 quarts of water to 1 lb. of grain (3.1 L/kg) and a temperature of 154 °F (68 °C). Hold the mash at 154 °F (68 °C) for one hour. Sparge slowly with 170 °F (77 °C) water collecting the wort until the pre-boil volume is around 6.5 gallons of wort; tailor the amount to account for your boil off rates.
The total wort boil time is 75 minutes, which helps to reduce the SMM (S-methyl methionine) present in lightly kilned Pilsner malt and results in less DMS (Dimethyl Sulfide) in the finished beer. Add the hops according to the ingredients list, and add Irish moss or other kettle finings with 15 minutes left in the boil. After the boil is complete, turn off heat, add the final addition of hops, give the wort a stir to create a whirlpool, and let settle for 10 minutes. Chill the wort to 50 °F (10 °C) and aerate thoroughly. Pitch the yeast.
Ferment around 50 °F (10 °C). Fermentation should be complete in two weeks or less, but don’t rush it. If desired, perform a diacetyl rest during the last few days of active fermentation. Rack the beer to a secondary and lager for around 6 weeks. Bottle or keg after the lagering process.
Jack’s Original Lager
(5 gallons/19 L, extract only)
OG = 1.047 FG = 1.011
IBU = 40 SRM = 3 ABV = 4.8%
Ingredients
5.25 lbs. (2.4 kg) Briess Pilsen light dried malt extract
9 AAU Styrian Golding hops (75 min.) (2 oz./57 g at 4.5% alpha acids)
0.6 AAU Strisselspalt hops (20 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 1.2% alpha acids)
1.8 AAU Czech Saaz hops (20 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 3.6% alpha acids)
0.6 AAU Strisselspalt hops (0 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 1.2% alpha acids)
1.8 AAU Czech Saaz hops (0 min.) (0.5 oz./14 g at 3.6% alpha acids)
Wyeast 2007 (Pilsen Lager) or White Labs WLP840 (American Lager) yeast
4 oz. (113 g) corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Add enough water to the malt extract to make a pre-boil volume of around 6.5 gallons (25 L); tailor the amount to account for your boil off rates. Stir thoroughly to dissolve the extract and bring to a boil. The total wort boil time is 60 minutes. Add the hops according to the ingredients list, and add Irish moss or other kettle finings with 15 minutes left in the boil. Chill the wort to 50 °F (10 °C) and aerate thoroughly. Pitch yeast. Ferment around 50 °F (10 °C). With healthy yeast, fermentation should be complete in two weeks or less, but don’t rush it. Now follow the remaining steps of the all-grain recipe for lagering and packaging.
