Happy Fourth of July to our US friends — and to our British readers, we remind you that it’s only treason if you lose.

Today, we celebrate the day off with one of the favorites here at Wall Brew Co: Maplewood’s Lounge Lager. This beer holds a special place in our hearts and it is a must-have whenever visiting Maplewood’s amazing Logan Square lounge. We were fortunate enough to have a friend gift us a pack from their recent visit in Chicago.

There is little more American than finding ways to put corn in anything, and this beer on this Independence day is no exception. The Lounge Lager proudly boasts the style “adjunct” lager to account for its wonderful additions of flaked corn. Our European friends may find it odd to use this adjunct (particularly any Bavarians and their affinity for Reinheitsgebot compliance), but there’s a proud American tradition of using local grains to elevate our beer game. Hell, even one Wall Brew Co. team’s favorite recipes using corn (but we have recipes for our German fans as well).

Beyond the corn, the use of 6-row as a base grain might sound a little unfamiliar to the newly minted homebrewer. Most recipes today call for 2-row. The numbers refer to the arrangement of the kernels on the barley stalk: two-row has its kernels arranged in two lines along the stalk, while six-row has six lines of kernels. Indeed, modern 2-row is still extremely efficient compared to its past counter parts — however, its higher enzyme count helps maintain that efficiency for recipes using large amounts of adjuncts like corn.

Makes us want to try to add even more corn to our next version of our Cream Ale, and go the 6-row route instead.

Happy 4th again, stay tuned for our next brew day soon.

Cheers,