MBAA TQ https://doi.org/10.1094/TQ-57-3-0831-01 | 
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Gregory Paul Casey. Retired, Perry Park, CO, U.S.A.
Abstract
The second in a series of three
Technical Quarterly papers examining the origins and history of adjunct lager beer in the United States, the focus of this paper is a review of Germany’s extensive pre-1906 history employing malt substitutes in the brewing of lager beer for domestic consumption. The picture which emerges is, first, that Germany’s brewing of adjunct lager beer preceded America’s by one to two decades, and, second, that the start of America’s journey in the style in the late 1870s was profoundly influenced by Germany’s journey. The story consists of the voices of 19th century German-American brewers as they share how their first experiences in brewing with substitutes took place in Germany and how German taxation laws from the 1870s to 1906 included rates for both malt and malt substitutes, including detailed annual reports issued by the Reichstag listing the quantities of every brewing material used during these years. While the style has flourished in the United States and around the world ever since, it was only because of the Reichstag’s passage of the National Reinheitsgebot on June 3, 1906, that its production ceased throughout all of the German Empire—but not, as will be discussed, without controversy or some rather startling surprises.
Keywords: adjunct lager beer, American beer history, German beer history, beer standards, corn, malt substitutes, Reinheitsgebot, rice
