Liffey Lager

Brewer's notes:

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Every year my wife and I throw a big St. Patrick's Day party for our friends and family to celebrate our Irish heritage. We'll cook traditional Irish food and serve our homebrewed Irish beers. Liffey rose out of that need for a homebrewed Irish Lager – something to balance the stout in Black & Tans. I didn't want to just clone the one Irish Lager we all know and love, so I looked to another style of lager, known as Pre-Prohibition Lagers. 

 

Pre-Prohibition Lagers are higher in alcohol, body, and bitterness than their post-Prohibition counterparts. The great experiment of prohibition struck some blows to beer that we're still recovering from. They also tended to favor some no-longer popular grains and corn along with esoteric hops. Of course, Ireland never had a prohibition on alcohol, but if they had and if there were "before" beers to today's "after" beers, Liffey would be it! 

 

(side note: the name "Liffey" refers to the bridge in Dublin that crosses the river of the same name. No one calls it that though, preferring to go by Half-Penny or Ha'Penny instead.) 

 

In Liffey, Irish and English malts mingle with 6-Row barley and flaked corn to provide a grainy malt profile which is firmly dosed with English and American hops. The beer is fermented low and slow with lager yeast up to 6.2% ABV and finishes crisp and clean. 

 

Cheers