NABC Abzug now on tap.

Jared Williamson's recipe for our new Abzug is derived from his research into archaic German beer styles in the run-up to the Happy Helmut (Fraconian) lager we did a couple of years back. To this very day, Germans and some other Central Europeans brew to fit into tax classifications based on alcohol content or starting gravity. In olden times, Abzug would have fallen into the lower end of Vollbier, and perhaps the higher end of Schankbier. Heater-Allen Brewing in Oregon brews an Abzug based on an Austrian interpretation:

Abzug - In the mid to late 1800s, Viennese brewers produced a series of amber lager beers. The strongest was what we now call Marzen or Oktoberfest and the middle beer was just called Vienna. The weakest of the three was called Abzug, which means reduction in German. With less lagering time and a much lower original gravity, Abzug lacks some of the smoothness of Bobtoberfest, but it make a very nice session beer. (1.013 BG, 3.80%, 28 IBU, 8 SRM)

In similar fashion, our Abzug is a conscious effort on the brew team's part to develop a golden-colored beer that NABC can keep on tap all the time at Bank Street and the Pub & Pizzeria. We didn't want to brew something called Kolsch that really wasn't Kolsch. Abzug uses the hybrid California Common yeast, fermented cool, and without the lagering time required by Kaiser, NABC's pre-Prohibition Pilsner, meaning it can be turned over faster, not unlike the common beers of Americana.

Stats: 6-row malt, Vienna and a dab of rye; German select hops, California Common yeast fermented cool, 3.8% abv, 26 IBUs, and lagered in the keg for a week. Note that German Select hops are bred to resemble the characteristics of the Spalt/Tettnang/Saaz grouping.

Give Abzug a spin and let me know what you think.