Falls City Beer: The Review

Well, readers--after learning about the return of the Falls City brand and that it was available on tap just two blocks away from my house, it really didn't make sense for me not to go give it a try right away. So there it is, in all its deep-amber glory. It's true that the color is much deeper than I remember--the lager that once was had a wispy, lemony color, while the new brew is indeed the darker hue of an American pale ale.

So...that, unfortunately, is where the comparisons end between the new FCB and APA. There is none of the hoppy goodness that one would associate with such a color, no deep complexity or pleasant yeasty nose...it was rather plain, actually. Don't get me wrong, it beats Budweiser or Miller Lite or whatever other major domestic you got, and it beats the hell out of Kentucky Ale. But honestly--I guess I was expecting more. All the talk about small breweries, reviving a local favorite and taking it back to its roots made me think there would be some sort of shazaam sort of moment. It's just OK. Kind of a metallic finish.

Oh, and the price? We paid $4 a pop for an average beer that should've been half that. Seriously? One of the big draws of the underdog beers is the bargain price--it's really not that fun to pay the same amount you would for a better beer but only get an unremarkable 2nd (3rd?) tier brew. I mean, we weren't at the ballpark or anything. I don't know--if I happen to see a six-pack at Schreck's for less than 6 bucks I'll definitely buy some to keep in the fridge, but otherwise I'll just stick with my usual.

The Return of Falls City

As any native Louisvillian knows, Falls City Beer--the watery, beer-like soda pop that the local skinny jeans-clad hipsters still pine over--has been a defunct brand for around ten years now. (What is really behind the hipster love of skunky off-brands, anyway? I love Pabst Blue Ribbon for historical reasons--it was first introduced at the 1892 Chicago Worlds Fair! But hipsters are stupid, they don't bother with anything older than The Smurfs, right? I guess I can understand the Budweiser backlash and the yearning for local weirdness when it comes to branding...but seriously: I saw PBR for sale at F-ing Whole Foods the other day! WTF?) Anyway, the Louisville-made regional favorite began production in 1905, surviving prohibition only to see the national takeover of the Big Beer Brand conglomeration. In 1978, after a pretty good run, the company dissolved it's board of directors and the brand changed hands, going to new owners outside Louisville (Indiana and later Pittsburgh, from what I've heard) who proceeded to cheapen the brand, making it into the loveable, bottom shelf horse-piss that most people remember today.

Hipster-fueled nostalgia, combined with a recent trend towards craft/micro brewing and a general popularity of "local things" (the word "sustainability" gets thrown around a lot these days...) seems to all have had a hand in the revival of FCB. David Easterling is the current owner of the brand, and for now it looks like he is going to be operating out of Cincinnati--but according to a recent LEO Weekly interview, he's keen to bring the operation back to Louisville.

But the really interesting part? According to the grapevine, the new recipe is nothing like the wimpy lager that filled the can in the 80's and 90's--Easterling says the new FC is closer to what it tasted like in the early days of the brand, which was an American Pale Ale(!) The original recipe is apparently lost, so the new beer may not be an exact copy, but even an approximate replica is nonetheless very exciting--Falls City Beer is sort of a legend in my family: my grandmother and her beer-swilling sisters were very fond of it, and now I get to taste what it was like. I'm pretty psyched to go find an area watering hole that has it on tap. I predict that local demand will pave the way for Falls City to make its glorious return onto the shelves of every store in the city--even the gawddamned Whole Foods.