Great Lakes The Wright

Named after the brothers Wright who built the world’s first successful controlled airplane, this pilsner, like these local heroes, has all the Wright stuff! Until the 1840s, most Bohemian (now Czech Republic) beers were top-fermented, dark and cloudy, although Bavarian brewers had begun experimenting through “lagering” beer in cool caves using bottom-fermenting yeasts, which improved the beer’s clarity, flavor, and shelf-life. The Burgess Brewery recruited the Bavarian brewer Josef Groll who, using new techniques and the newly available paler malts, created the first batch of modern pilsener on October 5, 1842. The combination of pale color from the new malts (aided by the Bohemian city of Plzen’s remarkably soft water), noble hops and Bavarian-style lagering produced a clear, golden beer which caused a sensation. Improving transport and communications also meant that this new beer was quickly available throughout Central Europe, and its style was soon widely imitated.