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**MalFet** · 01-03-2011, 06:27 PM

My brother-in-law just bought an old house in Cleveland, Ohio. While looking through some old pictures, he was delighted to discover that it was briefly the site of a commercial beer garden in the years following prohibition. His plan is to host an annual party to commemorate it, and I'd like to help by supplying some beer authentic to the time period.

Do any historians out there have thoughts? What kind of beer was being brewed in the American midwest in the mid-1930s? I've done a bit of research, but haven't been able to find anything beyond very general statements.

Any help will be greatly, greatly appreciated!
-MalFet

rockfish42 · 01-03-2011, 07:05 PM

Classic american pilsner would probably fit the bill.
http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style02.php#1c

**Homercidal** · 01-03-2011, 07:08 PM

CAP. Like the current American Lager, but more and with flavor.

Oldsock · 01-03-2011, 08:22 PM

Probably wasn't much good beer being brewed in 1930 considering it was more than 10 years into prohibition. CAP is probably closer to what was being brewing before prohibition (and World War I for that matter).

**MalFet** · 01-04-2011, 02:28 PM

Thanks for the response guys. I've never noticed that style before browsing through the BJCP. Looks interesting. Was there anything else being brewed around that time, just so I can add a bit of diversity?

@Oldsock - My title was confusing, and I tried to change it after I posted the message but couldn't. As the body of my post stated, I'm talking about right after prohibition. I should have said circa-1933, but I was just rounding. Obviously three years makes a big difference here, though

Oldsock · 01-04-2011, 02:39 PM

Sorry I didn't read your post more carefully.

According to: http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=CBC4 "After repeal, the only Cleveland brewery to reopen was Fishel, located at 2764 E. 55th St., which resumed production in July 1933, brewing Gold Bond and Crystal Rock beer and Old Timer's ale into the 1960s." Here is some more info: http://www.beerhistory.com/library/holdings/BBITBS_stang.shtml

Here is a picture of a can of Old Timer's Ale:http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/old-timers-ale-sandusky-brewing-comp-cleveland

Sadly none of these give any particular notes on the flavors of any of these beers.

For what I've generally read the beers brewed after prohibition were lighter and less hoppy than they were pre-pro, so maybe a slightly scaled down CAP or a more characterful variant of a modern Cream Ale.

**MalFet** · 01-06-2011, 12:08 PM

Great find, Oldsock. Your googlefu is superior to mine. Thanks for your help. It's a good read.

kanzimonson · 01-06-2011, 03:07 PM

When I think of historical recipes, I imagine brewers making very simple recipes with whatever ingredients they could scrounge up. They wouldn't have been able to easily say "I'd like to add 2% Special B to this beer for the extra flavor of..."

Go super simple... maybe even use 6row. A good bit of corn, maybe a dash of amber or brown malt. Original American hops (Liberty I think are classic American). German Lager yeast.

**MalFet** · 01-06-2011, 09:00 PM

That's good advice kanzimonsoon. I'd been thinking to play around with corn for this. Does anyone know if any ales were being brewed in the Midwest at this time, or anything else unusual like steam beers, etc?

rockfish42 · 01-07-2011, 12:45 AM

Liberty are not classically American they were released in 1991, though they are related to Hallertau which was imported into the US during that period. Older varieties that are US specific are limited to Cluster and maybe Ivanhoe.