Master Brewers Podcast

The last of the three-part series of Technical Quarterly articles providing insights to the upcoming MBAA publication The Inspiring and Surprising History and Legacy of American Lager Beer: 1941–1948, the focus of this paper is a review of the American brewing industry during the tumultuous years of World War II (1941–1945) and those immediately following in support of global famine relief (1946–1948). This is perhaps the most remarkable 7 year period ever in the history of the American brewing industry, with production rising by just over 36 million barrels of beer—a staggering increase of 65.3%. While the beer before and after this period was very similar, the beer in between was anything but. Surprisingly, the brewing materials that were scarcest during this period were rice and especially corn-based adjuncts, not malt. But perhaps the greatest surprise of all was that the beer fueling the explosive growth was a significantly lighter, lower original gravity, and lower malt-to-adjunct ratio beer. Indeed, for a time during 1945, the industry's overall use of adjuncts exceeded 50%. A stunning array of materials—many never used prior or since—were employed to brew America's adjunct lager beer. Included in the “adjunct potpourri" were an astounding 141.5 million pounds of cassava products (e.g., manioc and tapioca) and 12.8 million pounds of potatoes. Surprisingly, however, both were first used after World War II, during the Relief years, triggered by federal mandates restricting the use of rice and corn in brewing. All material restrictions lifted in the summer of 1948, and supplies of all brewing materials returned to pre-war levels, but few in the industry could ignore that the lighter lager of the war and famine years had triggered a profound upward step-shift in sales. In the decades that followed, annual industry volume remained largely static, even declining on a per capita basis. Not until 1964 would the industry finally reach 100 million barrels of domestic production, followed in 1970 by the surpassing of the post-Prohibition per capita record of 1948. Buoyed by the 1973–1982 introduction of the modern 100 calorie light adjunct lagers, new records were subsequently set with per capita consumption of domestically produced beer reaching 26.17 gallons in 1981 and domestic production of 203,658,410 barrels in 1990, records that still stand. However, despite the phenomenal growth experienced by the American craft brewing industry over the past 30 years, by 2019 overall industry performance against per capita and annual domestic production metrics has declined by 9.26 gallons and 24.6 million barrels of beer, respectively. Insights to spur 21st century growth, for both macro and craft brewers alike, can be found in the lessons of the past.

Special Guest: Greg Casey.

Sponsored By:

• Hopsteiner:

Links:

• Inspiring History and Legacies of American Lager Vol. 1-2

This week on the show, something that most brewers new to canning never consider but can make or break a brewery.

Special Guests: Hannah Krieg and Vivian Poteat.

Sponsored By:

• Hopsteiner:

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• Can Liner Quality and Testing Methods

Why you need a fermentation recipe just as much as you need a recipe in the brewhouse.

Special Guest: Tim Faith.

Sponsored By:

• Hopsteiner:

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• Fermentation Quality Control: Including Fermentation in Your Beer Recipe​​

What’s going on with the recent funding cuts to barely & hops research, and how does that affect your brewery?

Special Guests: Alicia Adler, Ashley McFarland, and Scott Dorsch.

Sponsored By:

• Hopsteiner:

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• USDA ARS

How automation enabled one of today’s largest craft brewers to grow to scale.

Special Guest: Kevin Martini.

Sponsored By:

• Hopsteiner:

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• Brewery Plant Integration & Automation

Is your brewery prepared to rescue a team member from an FV or other confined space? Do you train & practice rescue regularly or do you plan to just wing it when seconds matter?

Special Guest: Andy Troccoli.

Sponsored By:

• Hopsteiner:

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• Confined Space Entry: A Regulatory and Best-Practices Review​

A former chair of the BA’s supply chain subcommittee has advice for navigating today’s challenges.

Special Guest: Mitch Steele.

Sponsored By:

• Hopsteiner:

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• District Presentation Archives

Perhaps the most practical guide to wort separation on planet earth.

Special Guest: Travis Audet.

Sponsored By:

• Hopsteiner:

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• Influence of precipitation of malt proteins in lautering.

What NIR analysis of roughly 200 beers at UC Davis can tell us about hitting quality targets.

Special Guests: Glen Fox and Sarah Suriano.

Sponsored By:

• Hopsteiner:

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• WBC Rewind

Understanding the enzymes that drive hop creep and a novel potential control strategy.

Special Guest: Matt Cottrell.

Sponsored By:

• Hopsteiner:

Links:

• Controlling Hop Creep of Dry Hopped Beer Using Exogenous Enzyme Addition to Forestall the Endogenous Dextrin Degrading Enzymes of Humulus Lupulus (Hop)