Recipe: Uncle John’s Pre-Prohibition Lager

Give this one some time. After about three months, you’ll find that the malt and hops are so perfectly integrated that you’ll want to just sit and smell this beer for a while.

By Josh Weikert

May 27, 2024

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The hop aroma and flavor drop off a bit as time goes by, but the malt’s grain-and-honey flavors take up the slack, with a lasting burr of bitterness on the tongue to scrub the palate. Brew it today, ration the bottles, and you could still be drinking and enjoying it a year from now.

For much more on brewing this style, see Make Your Best Pre-Prohibition Lager as well as America’s Founding Lagers: The Pre-Prohibition Landscape.

ALL-GRAIN

Batch size: 5 gallons (19 liters)
Brewhouse efficiency: 72%
OG: 1.054
FG: 1.014
IBUs: 33
ABV: 5.5%