Tap Handle #252: Coors - Batch 19 Pre-Prohibition Style Lager

Another tap I got as a gift, Batch 19 is a toy on a stick, but it's a very well done toy on a stick - there's something really appealing about it. The hammer and barrel are symbolic of the Prohibition practice of government agents and local police destroying barrels of beer when the law was enacted.

The Batch 19 recipe was found  found in an old logbook discovered in the Coors brewery archives dating back before 1919, when Prohibition banned beer throughout the country. Prohibition was enforced in Colorado in 1916. When the brewers in the brewery in Golden made up a sample, they found the old-time Coors lager sprightly, slightly hoppy and easy drinking, despite the fact that they could not brew an exact batch due to the differences in modern ingredients and brewing techniques. It was originally test-marketed last year at the brewery and in Chicago, San Francisco/San Jose, Washington and Milwaukee, and is set to go nationwide soon.

Batch 19 is a premium lager with a deep gold color, and features a rare combination of hops, including Hersbrucker and Strisslespalt, which gives the beer notes of herbs and black currant. Weighted average on ratebeer.com is 2.8 out of 5.

Batch 19 Official Webpage

For more about Coors, see this post.