The Bottom Feeders Beat

Josef Groll is probably the most influential man in beer history.

You see, for much of brewing history, people knew that fermentation was happening and how to get it to happen, but they did not understand what was actually happening. It wasn’t until the early 1800s that Bavarian and Bohemian brewers understood that yeast was involved. Even when German scientist Theodor Schwann concluded from a series of 1837 and ‘38 experiments that yeast grew and reproduced during fermentation, that finding was not immediately accepted. Still, it was with this new understanding of yeast that Josef Groll made his important move around 1840.

A Bohemian brewer in the city of Pilsn, in what is now Czech, Groll purchased some bottom fermenting lager yeasts from Bavaria, fermented Pale malt with them in Pilsn’s soft water, bittered his wort with local hops similar to Saaz, and — in 1842 — created the first clear, clean, crisp lager, which now stands as the Platonic ideal of beer. Named after the city of its origin, the Pilsner was quickly copied by Bavarian brewers in Germany, transformed ale styles throughout Europe, followed Germans to the U.S. and Mexico, and took over the world. From American mega corporate swill to Caribbean pale lagers to Japanese Rice Lagers, so many beers can trace their history back to the Pilsner.

This Thursday, we’re going to taste some traditional European Pilsners (and one local one just to spice things up). Please join us any time within the hour and a half for this free walk-up tasting.