The danger of nostalgia is a theme that runs through all of the Bioshock games. Developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K in 2007, the original Bioshock and its sequel (released in 2010) are set in the underwater city of Rapture—built by fictional entrepreneur Andrew Ryan in the aftermath of World War Two. Seeking to escape the competing capitalist and socialist ideologies warring above, Ryan builds a libertarian paradise under the ocean with no government and absolute freedom for all citizens. Events go awry as, beset with competing demagogues that threaten his control of Rapture, Ryan resorts to creating genetically engineered slaves with no free will whatsoever to fight for him, utterly corrupting his own morals in the process.

Bioshock Infinite, the third game in the series from 2013, sees the pseudo-Christian prophet Zachary Comstock found Columbia, a floating city in the heavens. A theocracy celebrating the white Christian dream of the Founding Fathers, Comstock sees it as an escape from the wickedness of the USA of 1912, which he leaves on the ground below. Comstock ignores the bloody and complicated history of a USA—one founded on the backs of slaves and the forced relocation of Native Americans—in favour of a nostalgic timeline that never was. In the game, Comstock’s city is doomed to a violent overthrow from those oppressed by his lie.

Brewers and beer lovers are no strangers to the drug that is nostalgia, although with admittedly less calamitous outcomes. We remember beers more fondly from our youth, sparkling brighter and quenching thirsts in a way they no longer quite do. We tell apocryphal stories about beer too: the genesis of IPA as a pale ale brewed stronger to survive long journeys by boat to India; the fabled 9% Victorian dark mild, and a pre-prohibition American lager style, exiled by time, that was supposedly stronger and hoppier than its modern day cousins.

The Beer Judge Certification Programme (BJCP) style ‘pre-prohibition lager’ is an historical style describing American pilsners brewed before the USA passed the 18th amendment in 1919. This outlawed the sale and consumption of alcohol in the majority of the country, beginning the prohibition era that ended when the USA eventually repealed the amendment in 1933. Post-prohibition American lagers lost some of their oomph as America lost its taste for stronger lagers, having gone without them for over a decade. The style is said to have very few commercial examples now, and is largely made by homebrewers as a curiosity. The style guide is agnostic towards whether they should be all malt, or use adjuncts.Therefore the use of corn and rice in this recipe is optional but, of course, period appropriate hops must be used.

Bioshock Infinite is set in 1912, seven years before the prohibition era, so its own Columbia Lager Beer would exemplify the BJCP style, right? Or is our view of American Lager of the past as rose tinted as Comstock’s view on the founding of the United States?

I reached out to beer historian Dr Greg Casey, author of The Inspiring History And Legacies Of The American Lager Beer, as his book looks at the beer myths that persist to this day about the history of American lager.

In terms of adjuncts, Greg was unequivocal that they and pre-prohibition lagers are intertwined, and that a truly historically accurate pre-prohibition lager would include 30-40% rice or corn. The reason being that in the pre-prohibition era the variety of barley brewers had access to had a much higher protein level compared to European barley, so If you brewed a 100% malt beer in the USA in 1912 it would have been very hazy, and absolutely lack that crystal clarity that is the cornerstone of the pilsner style. Greg told me a story that so endemic were adjuncts in American brewing in this era that in 1908 at a meeting of ‘Pure Food Commissioners’ on Mackinac Island, Michigan, it was joked they should erect a symbolic tombstone bearing the Latin epitaph ‘hic jacet cerevisia malti:’ here lies all malt beer.

““In terms of adjuncts, Greg was unequivocal that they and pre-prohibition lagers are intertwined.””

Far from the far the 5-6% guideline for the BJCP style, Greg told me that pre-prohibition lagers were generally around 4-4.5% ABV and, in fact, were lowered in the immediate pre-prohibition period to try and appease the Temperance Movement that was the drive behind prohibition. American pilsner in the immediate post prohibition period in the 1930s was actually moderately stronger which rather dampens the notion the American drinkers had lost the taste for stronger alcohol.

A drop in ABV did occur between 1941-1948, as the USA brewing industry faced the twin pressures of supply from World War Two driving up grain costs and an increase in demand. This lead to a 65% increase in output, quite simply making more beer with less ingredients left American brewers with little option but to drop ABV down to its lowest level in the country's history. American pilsner has waxed and waned in strength over its over 150 year history in response to economic, agronomic, societal and legal factors. Pinning this down a specific pre-prohibition strong and post-prohibition weak paradigm simply isn’t true.

When I asked Greg about hopping levels, he pulled out a stack of loose papers with multicoloured index tabs sticking out at all angles and leafed through quoting statistics on hops per barrel throughout different years. He summarised that pre-prohibition lager was hoppier, “but not by a ton.”

All said and done, I think I’m being a bit harsh on the BJCP style by tearing apart its accuracy. As long as we take its historicity with a pinch of salt it’s a bit of fun for homebrewers, adding to the diversity of styles at competitions, and who am I to ruin that? Homebrewers making ahistorical styles in their garages isn’t hurting anyone. This isn’t the kind of nostalgia we need to worry about all too much.

In any case after all this research you might think I would want to brew a more historically accurate pre-prohibition lager. That I would take the lessons Greg has taught me and brew something that’s actually not too dissimilar from today’s American pilsners, but that doesn’t sound like very much fun and also because my research missed something quite big: Columbia is not a real city.

Columbia Lager Beer is not just a fictional lager from 1912, it’s a fictional lager from a fictional 1912. A 1912 with a floating city in the sky where portals rip through into infinite alternate realities: some with big differences like the George Washington crowning himself King of America or Albert Einstein never being born. But also universes with small differences like Revenge of the Jedi remaining the title of the third Star Wars film, or Americans preferring tea to coffee. There’s bound to be a universe where the mythical pre-prohibition lager actually existed. With this in mind I can’t help but make a Columbia Lager beer the strong, all malt, bitter and aromatic pre-prohibition lager that never was.

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Recipe

Target Original Gravity (OG) — 1.060
Target Final Gravity (FG) —1.015
Target Alcohol by Volume (ABV) — 5.9%
Target International Bittering Units (IBU) — 40
Batch Size — 23L

Ingredients

6Kg Pilsner Malt
250g Wheat Malt

65g Hallertauer at start of boil
50g Hallertauer five minutes from end of boil

1 Packet Mangrove Jacks Versa Lager Yeast

Method

Mash Duration — 1 Hour
Mash Liquor Volume — 16.8L
Total Grist Weight — 6.25Kg
Liquor to Grist Ratio — 2.7L/1Kg
Mash Temperature — 65°C
Sparge Liquor Volume — 19L
Sparge Liquor Temperature — 75°C
Boil Duration — 1 Hour
Fermentation Temp — 10°C