(Courtesy Black Point Estate)

The beer biz never sleeps at American Craft Beer. And here’s just some of what’s been happening while you were shooting off illegal fireworks and enjoying the 4^th of July weekend…

A Classic Chicago Beer Returns After Nearly a Century

(Chicago, IL) – It may have taken almost a century but a pre-prohibition pilsner from Conrad Seipp Brewing Company, once the number one beer producer in America, is making its return to Chicago, thanks to Laurin Mack, the great-great-great granddaughter of Conrad Seipp.

A few years ago, Mack started toying with an idea…what if she brought back the Conrad Seipp Brewing Company? And working with Metropolitan Brewing, a Chicago North Side craft brewery, she spent the past year reviving Seipp’s Extra Pale Pilsner, one of the original brewery’s top sellers.

There wasn’t an exact recipe for the Extra Pale available, so Metropolitan owners Tracy and Doug Hurst turned to old notes and records, to recreate a lager that felt historically authentic.

“There was not a lot of information about the recipes. I had to go back and look at so-called pre-Prohibition lagers and pilsners,” Doug Hurst explained to WTTW News.

“We think about Miller and Budweiser today…the beer that they were making, and many other breweries like them, was a little bit different. It was stronger in flavor, it had more hops, but it still used corn or rice like they use today.”

And now because of Laurin Mack’s passion and Doug Hurst’s extensive knowledge of brewing German lagers, Seipp’s “Extra Pale” Pilsner is available in select stores across Chicagoland, eighty-seven years after the historic brewery shuttered.

Words to Drink By

“Actually, I had a mask on. I sort of liked the way I looked. It was OK. It was a dark, black mask and I thought if people feel good about it they should do it.” – Donald Trump on wearing a mask

(Courtesy Great Lakes Brewing)

Great Lakes Brewing CEO Looks to “Difficult” Future

Great Lakes Brewing Co. CEO Mark King told Crain’s Cleveland Business that due to the impact of COVID-19 “it’s been very difficult to plan out the business for the rest of the year”

“Even with strong off-premise sales that can’t replace the higher-margin sales being lost at the taproom,” King expects “about half as much revenue as normal for the foreseeable future.”

About 35% of the GLBC business was in on-site sales last year. “It’s really tough, at 50% capacity, for any restaurant to make money,” King added.

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