Straub Beer Celebrates 140 Years

This 140th Anniversary recognizes our commitment to maintaining our birthright through the 14 years of Prohibition, and it celebrates our drive and determination to resurrect our brewing tradition in the 1930s when the 21st Amendment allowed once again for production and consumption of beer in the United States.

Our brewing skills have been repeatedly refined and perfected since 1872. Today, a new generation of Peter’s descendants carry on his brewing traditions, maintaining the quality and relevance of our products and sustaining the heritage of Peter Straub.

On Tuesday, September 25, 2012 we brewed the limited release 1872 Lager that will be helping us commemorate our 140th Anniversary this year.1872 Lager is a pre-prohibition style lager brewed as a tribute to our founder Peter Straub, who began brewing in St. Marys in 1872.

The brew team of Vince Assetta, Ray Frank, Bill Schatz, Dave Baumgratz, and Rich Schatz gathered in the wee hours of a chilly morning at our Northern Allegheny Mountain Brewery to begin brewing at 4am. As was customary 140 years ago, this American Style Lager was made from Domestic 6-row malted barley and a corn adjunct. We added an amount of Munich malt to provide more color and flavor as would have been typical from late 19th century malts.

The 1872 Lager beer was brewed to a higher original gravity of 13.7 degrees Plato to provide more malt flavors, a richer body, and a 5.6 % abv. Pre-prohibition lagers were more firmly hopped than the typical American lagers of today, so in keeping with history, we made three hop additions to 1872 Lager. The first hopping was with domestic Cluster hops, which were the only domestic hops available in 1872. We used the finer imported nobile hops for flavor and aroma additions. We added German Hallertau Mittelfruh hops at 20 minutes and 5 minutes remaining in the kettle boil to provide a firm yet distinctive hop character. Finally we used our traditional North American Lager Yeast to ferment this brew and provide a refreshing clean flavor profile.