An historic American variety, inspired by the romance of the Civil War. Appeared near Louisville and immediately fell in love with the locals. The peculiarity of the style is its extreme availability. Kentucky regular beer was made from inexpensive local ingredients, and the entire process from mashing to drinking took about a week. To saturate the drink with carbon dioxide, it was poured into barrels at the stage of active fermentation and tightly corked. Until the advent of refrigeration chambers, it was made only in winter. Immediately before the introduction of Prohibition, the share of the Kentucky regular was about 75% of the local market. When the law was repealed, it turned out that the style was forgotten, switching completely to lager.
Modern brewers who want to revive the style use sour mashing, but historical evidence does not suggest that this method was used before.
The beer has an unusual malty character, very drinkable, carbonated, light, refreshing in the heat. Drink fresh.
The aroma has tones of grain, corn, toast, biscuit, bread, caramel. Hops are weakly expressed, it is manifested by shades of spices and flowers. Fermentation is clean, but berry esters are acceptable, a slight aftertaste of dimethyl sulfide is not contrary to style standards.
Kentucky regular beer has a brown color, shades vary depending on the manufacturer. It happens both transparent and cloudy, foams weakly, the foam does not last long.
The taste gravitates towards expressive maltiness, unmalted raw materials are also felt. Hop bitterness is weakly expressed, it is not preserved in the aftertaste. The finish is dry, sometimes with a siliceous or mineral flavor, notes of roasted grains. Acidity is contrary to the standards of style.
The drink is light-bodied, soft, highly carbonated. Feels creamy on the tongue.
The basis of the style is six-row barley malt, with just a touch of caramel and black malt for color and 35% corn grits. The hops used are natively American, sometimes Žatec. Yeast – aggressive, top-fermenting. The local Louisville water contained too many carbonates, so it was pre-boiled and gypsum was added to it.
Kentucky regular beer is like a dark cream ale with hints of corn. In terms of malt-hop balance, the style is close to lagers, Belgian pale ales.
Strength: 4.0-5.5%.
Density: initial 1.044-1.055, final 1.010-1.018.
Bitterness Index: 15-30 IBU.
Color: 11-20 SRM.