Module 10, Historical and regional beers

10.C.1 The six, side by side

A reference screen. Six cards first, then twelve lines each.

Nobody is expected to memorise this screen. It is here so that a name on a menu stops being a blank. Read the six cards together first, because each one is easier to hold when it has neighbours to sit next to. Then come back to whichever line you need.

Sahti

• What it is, almost no hiss when it is poured and no bubbles rising in the glass. It is cloudy, it feels thick, and it coats the glass as you tilt it. The smell of banana arrives before you get close.
• Where it is from, Finland, brewed on farms for at least five hundred years and still made in Finnish villages today.
• Why it tastes that way, three decisions. The brewer runs the mash through a trough packed with juniper branches instead of a filter bed. The wort, which is the sweet liquid that becomes beer, is never boiled. And the fermentation uses Finnish baking yeast, which is what makes the banana and the clove.
• Confused with, Weizenbock, taught at 4.3, which gets the same banana and clove from a wheat beer yeast and is boiled, hopped and fizzy. Roggenbier, below, which shares the rye and the banana and is about half the strength with real hops in it.
• Numbers, 7% to 11% ABV, 0 to 15 IBU, and SRM 4 to 22, so yellow through dark brown. The two rulebooks disagree about the bitterness, which is covered on the next screen.
• You will probably, find it strange for two mouthfuls and then interesting. It is sweet, heavy and warming with no bitterness to cut it, so if you dislike sweet drinks you will not finish a large glass.
• Ordering it, a small pour of the sahti, please. Said SAH tee. Ask for a small one and mean it, because this is a beer that starts at 7%.
• Eat with, salted or cured fish, and rye bread. That is the Finnish answer and it works, because salt is the only thing that gets through the sweetness.
• Is it any good, genuinely unusual and worth one glass. It is also sweet, strong and flat, which is three things most drinkers do not want at once. Divisive, and honestly so.
• Try this one, you will almost certainly not find a sahti. Finnish producers barely export, so the nearest thing you can buy is Schneider Weisse Tap 6 Unser Aventinus at 8.2%, a Weizenbock sold year round across the United States. Same banana and clove, same strength, none of the juniper.
• The myth, people say the juniper makes it taste of gin. The juniper goes in as branches and wood rather than berries, so it reads as pine and resin. The banana is the baking yeast, not the tree.
• Remember, juniper for a filter, baking yeast for the banana, and no hops at all.

Norwegian Farmhouse and Kveik

• What it is, this one has no look of its own, because kveik is a yeast. The tell is printed on the can. Where you do meet a traditional Norwegian farmhouse ale it is hazy, soft, low in bubbles and smells of orange and tropical fruit.
• Where it is from, the farms of western Norway, where families kept their own yeast alive for generations by drying it on a wooden ring between brews. Lars Marius Garshol began documenting and sharing these yeasts from about 2013.
• Why it tastes that way, farmers pitched their yeast into hot liquid and reused it for decades. That selected for strains which work at 86F to 104F, meaning 30C to 40C. They finish in one to three days, and they do not throw the harsh solvent flavours an ordinary yeast produces at that heat.
• Confused with, Sahti, above, which is Finnish and filtered through juniper, where Norwegian farmhouse ale is more often steeped with juniper and fermented with kveik. Hazy IPA, which is where most Americans actually meet kveik, and which is a hop decision rather than a yeast one.
• Numbers, there is no official range, because a yeast is not a style. American beers that advertise kveik run roughly 5% to 9% ABV at any bitterness and any colour. The numbers that matter belong to the yeast: 86F to 104F, and done in one to three days.
• You will probably, have drunk it already without knowing. Order one if you like mango and pineapple flavours in a drink and you do not mind a hazy glass.
• Ordering it, is anything on here fermented with kveik. Most English speakers say KVIKE, to rhyme with bike.
• Eat with, whatever suits the beer it is hiding inside. In its traditional Norwegian form, cured meat and a strong hard cheese.
• Is it any good, the yeast is genuinely useful and that is why it is worth knowing. Beers labelled kveik vary enormously, because the label tells you about the fermentation and nothing about the recipe.
• Try this one, there is no dependable bottle. Kveik beers are usually one off releases and they vanish fast, and two of the best known ones have already come off their breweries lineups. Read the can instead. The words kveik, Voss, Hornindal and Lutra all mean this yeast, and a hazy IPA is the likeliest place to find it.
• The myth, people call kveik a beer style. It is a yeast. Garshol makes the point that Norway has several separate farmhouse traditions. Calling them one national style would be like treating smoked beer, barley wine and Berliner Weisse as the same thing.
• Remember, kveik is a who, not a what. It names the yeast, never the beer.

Grodziskie

• What it is, pale gold and bright, under a tall white head that refuses to sink. The carbonation prickles on the tongue, close to sparkling wine. The smell is wood smoke.
• Where it is from, Grodzisk Wielkopolski in western Poland. Malting there is recorded from 1426, and the beer as we know it settled into shape by the early twentieth century.
• Why it tastes that way, one decision above all others. The grain is oak smoked wheat malt and nothing else. A second decision finishes it: the beer is carbonated far harder than a normal beer, which lifts the smoke out of the glass.
• Confused with, Berliner Weisse, taught at 8.1, which is the same tiny strength and is sour where this one is bitter. Rauchbier, which is a stronger, maltier lager carrying much heavier smoke.
• Numbers, 2.5% to 3.3% ABV, 20 to 35 IBU, SRM 3 to 6. The American rulebook puts it noticeably stronger, which is covered on the next screen.
• You will probably, enjoy it more than you expect. Smoke on a beer this light reads as bacon or a campfire rather than as an ashtray, and there is no weight behind it to make it tiring.
• Ordering it, a Grodziskie, please. How smoky is yours. Said roughly grod ZEES kyeh, and nobody will mind if you point at it.
• Eat with, smoked fish, sausage, or a board of hard cheese. Smoke sits well beside smoke, and the carbonation clears the fat between mouthfuls.
• Is it any good, yes, and it is the easiest of these six to like. Low alcohol, loud flavour and a clean dry finish is a rare combination.
• Try this one, Live Oak Grodziskie at 3.0% and 36 IBU, brewed in Austin and sold year round in cans and on draft, though the brewery distributes mainly inside Texas. In Poland, Browar Grodzisk makes it again in the original brewery building.
• The myth, people assume that a style which died stays dead. Commercial production stopped in the 1990s, Polish homebrewers rebuilt the recipe, the first new commercial version arrived in 2010, and the original brewery reopened in 2015.
• Remember, Polish, smoky, tiny and fizzy. The beer that came back.

Kentucky Common

• What it is, amber to brown and usually clear, under a beige head that collapses faster than you expect from a dark beer. It feels light and highly carbonated in the mouth, and it finishes dry.
• Where it is from, Louisville, Kentucky, from after the Civil War until Prohibition. BJCP puts it at about 75 percent of the beer sold around the city at its peak.
• Why it tastes that way, the brewer used corn grits alongside six row barley with a small amount of caramel and black malt for colour. Then fermented warm and sold the beer inside about a week, because Louisville could not cut enough winter ice to store beer cold.
• Confused with, Cream Ale, which is the same idea left pale. American Brown Ale, taught in Module 5, which is maltier, fuller and far less fizzy.
• Numbers, 4% to 5.5% ABV, 15 to 30 IBU, SRM 11 to 20. Both rulebooks agree on all three, which is unusual in this group.
• You will probably, find it easy and slightly plain. The interesting part is the trick it plays: it looks like a dark beer and behaves like a light one.
• Ordering it, a Kentucky Common, please, and is it sour. Worth asking, because modern versions vary on exactly that point.
• Eat with, fried chicken, burgers, barbecue. It was a cheap beer served with cheap food, and the dry fizzy finish scrubs grease well.
• Is it any good, pleasant rather than exciting. Most of its value is historical, and it is a good beer to drink while somebody explains why it exists.
• Try this one, nothing packaged travels. It lives in Louisville taprooms, where Apocalypse Brew Works pours Oertel's 1912 at 4.7% and Falls City makes a Kentucky Common at 4.0%. Far from Louisville, Yuengling Traditional Lager at 4.5% is the nearest supermarket stand in: amber, corn in the grist, gently bitter, and a lager rather than an ale.
• The myth, nearly everything written about this beer says it was sour mashed. BJCP 2021 says brewing records from around 1900 show no sour mashing, no long acid rests and no extended ageing, and calls the sourness a likely modern invention.
• Remember, Louisville's cheap dark ale, drunk within a week because there was no ice.

Pre-Prohibition Lager

• What it is, deep gold and bright, under a thick white head that lasts. It feels creamier and fuller in the mouth than a modern pale lager, and the bitterness stays with you after you swallow.
• Where it is from, the United States. German immigrant brewers rebuilt their lagers around American grain from the mid 1800s, and the style was at its height around the 1870s.
• Why it tastes that way, two decisions. Corn or rice went in at up to 30 percent alongside six row barley, because six row carries too much protein to make a clean pale lager on its own. And the brewer hopped it hard, with American and Continental hops rather than modern citrus varieties.
• Confused with, American Lager, which is the same beer after a century of thinning out: 8 to 18 IBU there against 25 to 40 here. German Pils, which is just as bitter and is all barley, drier and sharper.
• Numbers, 4.5% to 6% ABV, 25 to 40 IBU, SRM 3 to 6. The American rulebook has no entry for it at all.
• You will probably, recognise it and then be surprised by it. It tastes like a familiar American lager with the volume turned up, which is a more interesting experience than it sounds.
• Ordering it, is that the pre-Prohibition one, and how bitter is it. The second half of that question is the one that matters.
• Eat with, fried food, sausages and sharp cheddar. The bitterness holds up to salt in a way a modern light lager cannot.
• Is it any good, yes, and it is the most useful beer on this screen. It is the only way to taste what the most drunk beer in America used to be.
• Try this one, Capital Supper Club at 5.0% and 28 IBU, brewed in Middleton, Wisconsin with corn flakes in the grain bill and sold year round. Schell Deer Brand at 4.7% is easier to find across the upper Midwest, and the brewery calls it a pre-Prohibition lager. At 18 IBU it is gentler than the guideline asks for. Check the BJCP example list against the brewery before you go looking, because some of those beers have come off their lineups.
• The myth, people say corn in beer is a modern cost cutting trick. Corn was in American lager from the beginning, and it was there for a technical reason. Six row barley carries too much protein for an all barley pale lager to come out clean.
• Remember, the American lager from before it lost its hops.

Roggenbier

• What it is, dark reddish brown and hazy, under a thick tan head that sits there and does not move. It feels fuller in the mouth than the colour prepares you for, and it smells of black pepper and banana at the same time.
• Where it is from, Bavaria, and it is modern rather than ancient. BJCP dates the style to Schierlinger Roggen, brewed near Regensburg in 1988.
• Why it tastes that way, two decisions. Up to 60 percent of the grain is malted rye, which gives the pepper and the body. Then the brewer ferments it with a wheat beer yeast, which puts banana and clove underneath the pepper.
• Confused with, Dunkles Weissbier, which is the same beer with wheat instead of rye and none of the pepper. Rye IPA, met inside Module 3, which has the rye but swaps the yeast for a clean one and buries everything under American hops.
• Numbers, 4.5% to 6% ABV, 10 to 20 IBU, SRM 14 to 19. The American rulebook files it as German-Style Rye Ale, asks for at least 50 percent rye and sets bitterness at 10 to 15 IBU.
• You will probably, like it if you already like Hefeweizen and have ever wished it had more grip. If banana in beer is not for you, this will not convert you.
• Ordering it, a Roggenbier, please. Said ROG en beer, with a hard g. Ask for it in the tall wheat beer glass if there is one.
• Eat with, cured sausage and mustard, dark bread, or an aged hard cheese. The peppery rye lines up with the mustard instead of fighting it.
• Is it any good, yes, and it is rarer than it deserves to be. Rye does something to body and to spice that no other grain does, and this is the clearest place to taste it on its own.
• Try this one, Reuben's Brews in Seattle makes a Roggenbier at 5.3% and 19 IBU, taproom only, so treat it as a reason to visit rather than a plan. In Germany, Schierlinger Roggen is still made. The example BJCP names, Thurn und Taxis Roggen, is retired, so do not go looking for it.
• The myth, people assume the peppery flavour is a spice somebody added. It is the grain. BJCP says outright that adding caraway seeds, as some American brewers do, is wrong for the style.
• Remember, take a dark wheat beer, swap the wheat for rye, and pepper appears.

10.C.2 Telling them apart

One grid, two disagreements between the rulebooks, and a hook for the whole group.

Sources: BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines, 27A Historical Beer: Sahti · BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines, 27A Historical Beer: Piwo Grodziskie · BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines, 27A Historical Beer: Kentucky Common · BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines, 27A Historical Beer: Pre-Prohibition Lager · BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines, 27A Historical Beer: Roggenbier · BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines, Category 27 introduction, on what the historical category is for · Brewers Association 2026 Beer Style Guidelines, Finnish-Style Sahti, Grodziskie, Kentucky Common Beer and German-Style Rye Ale · Lars Marius Garshol, on why Norwegian farmhouse ale is several styles and kveik is the yeast · Milk The Funk wiki, summarising Preiss and others 2018 on kveik temperature, speed and off flavours · Browar Grodzisk, on the original brewery and the last bottle sold in 1993 · Craft Beer and Brewing, on the Grodziskie revival, Pinta in 2010 and the brewery reopening in 2015 · Live Oak Brewing, beer list, Grodziskie at 3.0% and 36 IBU, year round · Capital Brewery, Supper Club at 5.0% and 28 IBU with corn flakes in the grist · August Schell Brewing, Deer Brand at 4.7% and 18 IBU, described as a pre-Prohibition American lager · Reuben's Brews, Roggenbier at 5.3% and 19 IBU, taproom only