baltimoresun.com
A classic Maryland beer bubbles with new life
Rob Kasper
I sipped the past the other afternoon, and it tasted pretty
good. National Premium -- a locally made beer once
considered among the classiest lagers in the land, only to
drop out of production in 1996 -- is making a comeback.
The reborn beer was served last week at the Baltimore
Waterfront Festival by its new owner, Frederick Brewing
Co, the Maryland craft brewery known for its variety of
small-batch beers, including one made with hemp seed.
Judging by the glass of National Premium I downed, the old favorite is off to a
promising second start. The lager had golden color, a good head, thin body
and a pleasingly bitter aftertaste. It came in at about 5 percent alcohol,
according to its brewers, and contains Northern Brewer and Saaz hops. The
distributors say it will sell for about $5 a six-pack and is scheduled to show up
in area liquor stores by Memorial Day weekend.
The National Premium I tasted didn't have the rich flavors now found in
several of Maryland's well-made craft beers. But it struck me as a good,
middle-market lager. Nothing outrageous. Nothing distinctive.
Also, the sample I sipped at the harbor tasted better than the National
Premium beers I recall sipping several years ago. There are probably two
reasons why that was so.
First, most beer shows well when it is fresh from the brewery and served on
draft, as it was at the harbor event. Secondly, most of the the old National
Premium I used to drink came in cans, and suffered -- or so the local beer
cognoscenti have told me -- from a change in the original 1934 recipe.
It is barroom wisdom in Baltimore that in the waning years of National
Premium's first life, corn and other adjuncts were substituted for the more
expensive malt originally used. It also is said that National Premium's
traditional six-week lagering time -- when the beer sits in refrigerated tanks
and develops its finishing notes -- was sliced back to 21 days.
Maura Conyngham and Darren Fehring, brewers for Frederick, told me that
they are making National Premium the old-fashioned way with malt and a
six-week lagering time.
Along with the beer, Mr. Pilsner also is returning to the scene. Mr. Pilsner is a
monocle-wearing logo which bears a resemblance to "Mr. Boh," the
monocle-wearing logo of National Bohemian, or Natty Boh, the once
lightly-regarded sibling beer of the regal National Premium.
In their glory days -- the 1950s and 1960s -- both beers were brewed at the
National Brewing Co. operation on O'Donnell Street in East Baltimore. The
brewery was owned by Jerold Hoffberger, who also owned the Baltimore
Orioles. Later, when National merged with Carling Brewing Co., the beers were
brewed at a plant near the Baltimore Beltway in Halethorpe.
The Beltway plant later was purchased by G. Heilman Brewing Co. Heilman
then was acquired by Stroh Brewing Co., which stopped making National
Premium in 1996. Last February, Stroh got out of the beer business, and Pabst
Brewing Co. picked up many of its beers, including Natty Boh.
While the many changes in ownership figured in the demise -- or at least the
three-year disappearance -- of National Premium, Natty Boh not only survived
but has become a cult beer in Maryland. It is popular with younger drinkers
who like its link to local history, its low price and Mr. Boh's logo.
At last week's reintroduction, Joseph Stanley, Roland Muir and Larry
Brookman -- sales guys from Frederick P. Winner Ltd. distributorship --
examined T-shirts carrying Mr. Pilsner's logo and said they were hoping that
the crowd appeal of Mr. Pilsner would equal that of Mr. Boh.
But Mr. Pilsner faces tough competition. The beer market is dominated by the
majors -- Budweiser, Miller, Coors and Pabst -- who aren't expanding but who
still carry a lot of market clout. The once-booming micro-brewers, or slightly
larger craft brewers, are consolidating.
In Maryland, for example, Clipper City recently acquired the line of Oxford
Brewing Co. Earlier, Frederick took over Snow Goose and Brimstone beers.
Meanwhile, the imports -- such as Guinness, Beck's and Corona -- are
growing, gaining a larger share of the market.
Judging by National Premium's new slogan, "The Beer With a Past," the folks
behind the beer are hoping that nostalgia sells. At the harbor, the
reappearence of National Premium awakened memories in some Marylanders.
One was Hannah Byron, an assistant secretary for the state's Department of
Business and Economic Development. She said sipping the reborn National
Premium reminded her of her "first serious boyfriend," a Baltimore lad, who,
she recounted, was so devoted to National Premium that he had his yearbook
photo taken in front of the brewery.
Maryland Comptroller William Donald Schaefer, who was on hand, said he
too had warm feelings for National Premium, even though he wasn't a beer
drinker. Schaefer said National Premium was a link to the past, a topic the
former mayor of Baltimore seemed to enjoy talking about, especially the time
he was running the city. He also claimed he liked beer because beer sales
generate tax money that ends up in the state treasury.
In his remarks, Schaefer paid tribute to the late Mr. Hoffberger, who died last
month. When I telephoned Mr. Hoffberger's sons, Richard and C. Peter, they
reacted to the news that their dad's beer was making a comeback with a
mixture of humor and good wishes.
Richard, who once was a brand manager for the beer, recalled accompanying
his father as they visited restaurants in New Orleans and New York that
served the Baltimore beer. He, along with his brother, wondered if the bottles
of the reborn beer would carry the "classy, gold foil around the neck, not the
dull-looking one that came later." (As of last week, that decision had not been
made.)
Reflecting on how his dad would regard the resurrection of National Premium,
Peter said, "I think he would be feeling very happy."
Originally published on May 5 1999 |
