This recipe has been designed to be consistent with the 2021 BJCP Style guide, Historical Beer: Kentucky Common 27A.

Common People is a recipe created for The League of Brewers by Jamie McQuillan of Cell Division Brewery. One from the American history books, the Kentucky Common was almost exclusively produced and consumed in Louisville, Kentucky during Civil War times until Prohibition, after which the style all but disappeared.

It was brewed as a sessionable saloon beer, with similarities to a cream ale, but darker. Traditionally, it was served very fresh from the cask and was highly carbonated. The style should be clean and mild with gentle dark malts, light toast and caramel flavours with a dry and refreshing finish.

Developed to be true to style, flaked maize helps lighten the body and keep things refreshing, while early and late additions of Tettnang hops deliver background spicy and floral notes and medium bittering. This recipe is your chance to get a taste of a not-so-common slice of American history for yourself. Cheers.

This recipe assumes correct mineral additions for pH calculations, which are not included in the kit. Please purchase these separately.

Our kits are fresh! We assemble the ingredients after you place your order. The grain bill will be milled, unless you tell us in your order comments that you prefer it not to be.

Links to recipe files

23L Kit

Links to BeerXML files (import into any brewing software i.e. Grainfather App, Beersmith or Brewfather)

23L Kit