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Lancaster Brewing

LANCASTER BREWING COMPANY                                               BY:  Kyle Bloser

Lancaster Brewing Company has a rich history that has made them what they are today. Back in the 1800’s Lancaster was the beer Mecca for the United States, having 15 breweries in the county. At that time they accounted for only 7% of the beer in the country. They also referred to Lancaster as the American equivalent of Munich, the famous German city known for its world recognized beers. It was considered to hold the same position as in the brewing industry back at that time. As time went on, thanks to World War One and Prohibition, 14 of the 15 breweries had to shut down. During Prohibition the brewery had to do much of their brewing underground to stay open. Eventually, due to the strains of World War Two and thirteen years of literal underground brewing, the tradition of brewing finally had to shut its doors in 1956. This created a 39-year gap in this storied history of brewing high quality and well-known beer. In 1995 a place called Lancaster Malt Brewing opened, looking to build on this rich history and tradition. Lancaster Malt Brewing was eventually bought and became Lancaster Brewing Company in 2001. The company has made a commitment to follow the Reinheitsgebot, which is the German purity law for beer that says you can only use malts, hops, yeast, and water to brew beer.

The Mile Stout is a very traditional style of beer that has its roots in England. What makes this beer so unique is the fact that it’s a sweet stout, due to the type of sugar that is added. They use lactose sugar, which is non-fermentable, allowing the beer to retain a sweetness since it can’t be turned into alcohol. That is also where it gets its name since the lactose comes from milk. However, since it’s a stout it’s still very dark and barley based, allowing it to still have the dryness. This style of beer used to be advertised as nutritional due to the lactose sugar and was sold to pregnant and nursing mothers since there were nutrients added to the beer.

The Strawberry Wheat is Lancaster Brewing’s take on a traditional American wheat beer with a twist of strawberry to make it very unique. The fruit flavor pairs well with the beer because wheat beers are known for their more fruity characteristics in the first place.  This also allows the beer to lend itself well for summer drinking and enjoyed with any food. This beer is also very refreshing because it’s a lighter beer in the first place, and adding a fruit to this beer gives it an even more refreshing finish, quenching your thirst while maintaining its smoothness. This is one of the main reasons that it is such a good summer beer, plus it pairs so well with traditional summer foods.

Hop Hop IPA is a traditional India pale ale. This beer is extremely hoppy, even for an India pale ale, characterized by the hoppy flavor with the malty balance. This is a great example of what an India pale ale is: it uses cascade and fuggles hops, which adds a citrusy flavor. This allows the beer to be refreshing even though it is on the slightly bitter side due to the hops. It just makes you want to drink more of it after having that first sip. It is also on the stronger side for an IPA with an ABV of 7.7%. This is comparable to the higher end of the single IPA and is on the fringe of what most DIPAs are. A DIPA is a double IPA, which means it uses double the amount of hops than a traditional IPA. Both have great flavors, but this one is actually in between both.  It’s not quite a DIPA, but it is more than just an IPA.

The Pale Ale – This exceptional American Pale Ale is brewed to be the perfect balance of floral hop notes and smooth malt flavors. Its crisp and refreshing taste will surely have you reaching for another. It contains:  Malts: 2 Row Barley, Caramel Malts. Hops: Willamette, Fuggles, Magnum. OG: 13.5 – ABV: 5.0% – IBU: 34