(a version of this post originally ran as an article in the Longmont Times-Call, Nov 2010)
American beer nearly drowned in vats of corn and rice-forward, light lager. Vaguely-hued, thin brews monopolized the field of “American” style beers for decades after Prohibition. Underground zealots and bathtub homebrew (along with lenient self-distribution laws like Colorado’s) however have reintroduced beer to the People.
Prohibition began a bad cycle for American beer that included a world war, grain shortages, retooling of breweries to produce other food, and gorilla (not “guerrilla”) marketing. Seventy seven years later, badges of Prohibition linger in many states; “blue” laws, prohibiting alcohol sales on certain days, are still common. Colorado’s Beer Code long struggled to define “beer,” using “fermented malt beverage” instead, and limiting it between 0.5 % and 3.2% ABV (alcohol by volume); more than that and it becomes “malt liquor” and regulated under a separate code.
Behind closed doors and in goat sheds, basement chemists, stoked the zymurgic arts that allowed local brewing icons (Pumphouse, Oskar Blues, Asher, and Odell to name a few) to bring us the bounty of multi-hued “American” style ales and lagers we enjoy today.
The domestic market in 1980 was dominated by three brew houses, the last of a legion of 2000 strong existing in 1920. These three weathered three-tier liquor regulations, barley and customer shortages during WWII, re-branding to reach the female market, and then entered into a race toward homogeneity that erased choice. Even small brew houses that survived the beer wars, e.g., D.G. Yuengling & Sons of Pottsville, PA, were mired in the “light lager.” Anthropologically, this was due in large part to practical application of Old World customs to New World social and climatic environs, but liquor regulations did not help the cause.
The American spirit, that unquenchable, rugged idealism, has ever striven for real beer though. Enter David Hummer and Stick Ware (Boulder Beer) in 1984, followed shortly by Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebeson (New Belgium), and Ed Gueff and Gordon Knight (Estes Park), whose torches brought brew kettles to boil across Colorado in the 80‘s and 90‘s and the rebirth of “American” beer.
“American” beer is now recognized by eleven different styles in five classes, according to the Beer Judge Certification Program and American Homebrewers Association. The defining body of beer styles, the BJCP promotes beer literacy and appreciation for real beer; its standards are the hallmark for national homebrew competitions that open doors.
BJCP's “American Ale” class includes a Pale Ale (e.g., Left Hand Stranger), Amber Ale (e.g., Avery Red Point), and Brown Ale (e.g., Left Hand Deep Cover). American India Pale Ale is under the India Pale Ale class: “[a]n American version of the historical (sic) English style, brewed using American ingredients and attitude” (e.g., Great Divide Titan IPA). Standard American Lager is still out there, but with so many quality American styles, who needs that end of the spectrum?
The beers on tomorrow’s tap room wall are born today though national competitions like the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am. A pro-am is a competition hosted by a commercial brewery (professional-“Pro”) where homebrewers (amateur-“AM“) compete for the honor of having a Pro commercially produce their homebrew.
Longmont’s Indian Peaks Alers homebrew club and Left Hand Brewing Co. team up for an annual pro-am. During the summer of 2009, Kari Klein's American brown ale won and was on tap at LHB; in 2010, Wayne Stark’s Starsky and Scotch took top honors and was found both at LHB and local watering holes in Boulder. These local homebrews were then entered in the annual GABF pro-am. In 2008, IPAler Niggemeyer won a regional pro-am in Seattle with his Dog Scottish Ale, and went on to win GABF as the nation's best homebrew. “pro-am competition harkens back to the traditions of craft brewing-- we all started as homebrewers.” notes Eric Wallace, co-founder of Left Hand.
Upon pondering your next pint, look right, look left, and find a homebrewer to hug, as “thanks” for saving “American” beer.
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