Vienna Lager

Description

Vienna Lager is an outstanding example of a revolution in beer brewing that started in the 1830s. When Austrian brewer Anton Dreher travelled to England and Scotland, he learned about British brewing technology that was mostly unknown in Continental Europe at the time.

With this knowledge and a lager yeast sample from his friend and travel companion Gabriel Sedlmayr from Munich, he founded a brewing empire that started a revolution of pale, cold-fermented beer across Europe and the world. Thanks to Vienna Lager’s popularity in the United States during the 19th and 20th century, it survived even when it had fallen out of fashion in its country of origin and became a classic style that is still brewed and reinterpreted by brewers around the world.

The book not only tells the story of this beer type in great detail and dispels many myths around it, it also explains – based on historic sources – which ingredients were used to brew the beer, what the brewing process was like, and what the beer looked and tasted like. The book also comes with a number of recipes that explain how home-brewers can recreate both authentic, historic examples and modern versions of Vienna Lager at home.

Reviews

Highly recommended and, if there’s any justice, the inspiration for a Vienna Lager revival in 2021.

— Boak & Bailey, Self-published eBooks are the future of beer writing, July 11, 2020

What Andreas has done here is write the definitive guide to Dreher and his Vienna Lager, and made a valuable contribution to knowledge of the development of pale lager in general.

— Alistair Reece, Book Review: Vienna Lager, August 13, 2020

Ordering

This book can be ordered exclusively on Amazon worldwide.

Printed book:

e-book:

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. The History of Vienna Lager in Europe
    1. Anton Dreher’s Early Life
    2. A Journey to Great Britain
    3. Building a Brewing Empire from Scratch
    4. From Father to Son
    5. Vienna Lager and Czech Brewing
    6. Vienna Lager and Oktoberfest-Märzen
  3. Jumping the Atlantic: Vienna Lager in North America
    1. “Wiener Beer” in the United States
    2. Mexico
    3. Conclusion
  4. Modern Vienna Lager
    1. Modern American Vienna Lager
    2. The Revival of Vienna Lager in Austria
  5. Retracing Historic Vienna Lager
    1. Malt
    2. Hops
    3. Water
    4. Yeast
    5. Mashing, Boiling, Fermentation
    6. The Question of Colour
  6. Vienna Lager Recipes
    1. About the Recipes
    2. Historic Vienna Lager (1870s)
    3. Historic Vienna Lager Adapted to Modern Ingredients and Practices
    4. Wiener Abzugbier (1894)
    5. “Wiener Blut”
    6. Vienna Lager (1986)
    7. Glen and Julie’s Vienna Lager
    8. BrewAge: Vienna Lager
  7. Appendix A: Historic Specifications and Analyses
    1. Analyses from 1876 by Professor Franz Schwackhöfer
    2. Grundzüge der Hygiene, 1892
  8. Appendix B: Hop Production Statistics in Austria-Hungary 1891-1918
  9. Appendix C: Beer Production by Viennese Breweries 1860-1894
  10. Appendix D: Beer Colour Conversion Chart and Equations
    1. Conversion Formulas Between Colour Units
  11. Appendix E: Historic Units
  12. Glossary
  13. Acknowledgements and Dedications
  14. Bibliography

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