The train to Altbier.
American craft brewers have proven adept at rescuing forgotten classic beer styles and reshaping them for a contemporary market. Recent examples that spring to mind include the three “gees”: Gose, Grisette and Grodziskie, from Germany, Belgium and Poland, respectively. There are new/old revivals released every day, and believe it or not, some actually are not variations of India Pale Ale.
But skip back three decades to the first flowering of “microbrewing” in America, and perhaps the most profound reinvention of all came with Porter. This dark English ale, which is a sister style to Stout, was almost extinct in the British Isles prior to being embraced by the first generation of revivalists stateside.
One of them was David Pierce, founding brewer at Bluegrass Brewing Company in St, Matthews in 1993. In those days the refrain heard most often from apprehensive (read: terrified) first-time brewpub visitors was “I don’t like...
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