Knoxville Brewer’s Association | Historical Lager

Friends, Knoxville Craft Beer Week is upon us. The week begins with the release of a Historical Lager that is a collaboration beer from all our Knoxville Breweries. The fine folks at Elkmont Exchange, Abridged and Alliance came together to formulate the details of the recipe – and they did a great job! We’ll be able to find it across town beginning at 11am on Saturday, May 18th. Proceeds from the beer go to fund Knoxville Craft Beer Week.

I was fortunate enough to be able to try a bit of this beer. Lagers often get an unfair assessment among craft beer fans before they are poured into a glass. It seems as though this perception is beginning to shift. This is a good thing as there are so many great beers that fall into this category. With this one, the goal was to brew a beer that would have similar to what would have been brewed by the original settlers of the Smokies region “back in the day.” With that in mind the grain bill includes corn and barley grown locally within the state of Tennessee as well as Crystal Hops. The color comes from the addition of chocolate wheat malt as well.

Impressions: the beer poured a brown color but looks more amber when held up to the light. It is unfiltered with a big, frothy tannish-white head. The aroma gives faint scents of grain, faint hop aroma – candy perhaps and no yeast characteristics to note. On the palate this beer is sweet and finishes clean. At 4.4% ABV and 10 IBU this beer is incredibly drinkable.

Final snobs: this is our beer in so many ways. It is a reflection of our heritage, brewed with ingredients from our area, brewed by our incredible brewers and it goes to help fund our beer week. Further, I was able to enjoy this beer with 3 other individuals who I’ve known for a while and would not have met if it weren’t for our craft beer community. While craft beer has always represented community to me, this beer in particular represents our community this week. So raise a glass with some of our friends and I hope it opens the door for you to meet a few new ones this week.

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Prost!