Historical

Pre-Prohibition Lager

BJCP 27

What American lager was before 1920: much more bitter, with six-row barley and around a quarter maize, giving a grainy, firm, genuinely hoppy beer.

Vital statistics

Each bar is drawn against the full range of all 98 styles

Original gravity

1.044 - 1.060

Final gravity

1.010 - 1.015

Bitterness

25 IBU - 40 IBU

Colour

3 SRM - 6 SRM

Alcohol

4.5% - 6%

Colour also 6-12 EBC

What goes wrong

Assuming adjunct means bland. The corn is there for the grainy sweetness and body; the bitterness stayed high until Prohibition erased the recipes.

Commercial examples

Capital Supper ClubCoors Batch 19Schell Deer BrandUrban Chestnut Forest Park Pilsner

Reference examples of the style, as listed in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Availability varies by market and year.

Vital statistics as published in the BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines. Not yet checked against the published guidelines: treat these ranges as a planning aid and read the source at bjcp.org before entering a competition.

The rest of the historical family

Kentucky Common

4-5.5% · 15-30 IBU

Piwo Grodziskie

2.5-3.3% · 20-35 IBU

Lichtenhainer

3.5-4.7% · 5-12 IBU

London Brown Ale

2.8-3.6% · 15-20 IBU

Roggenbier

4.5-6% · 10-20 IBU

Sahti

7-11% · 7-15 IBU

Plan a batch to these numbers.

Bitterness Colour Alcohol