Al Capone’s Beer Recipe Recreated at Geneseo Brewing Co.

A Beer Recipe From A Brewery Once Owned By Al Capone Is Making A Comeback For the Roaring 2020’s. The beer is called “Mob Ties” and will be on tap at Geneseo Brewing Company in Geneseo, IL starting this Friday, March 13th.

A Pre-Prohibition Lager Using Soybeans Is Hitting The Taps In Geneseo
[GENESEO, IL, 3/10/2020] — Geneseo Brewing made headline news last September when they brewed a lager to support the cause of viral philanthropist, Carson King. Geneseo Brewing’s Head Brewer, Glenn Cole, is back with a new lager with quite the story behind it. The recipe originates from the Sieben Brewery circa 1924, which was owned by notorious gangster, Al Capone.

“I thought it would be great timing with it being the 20’s again to bring this beer back to life with a few modern updates”, Cole said.
Beer brewing ingredients were quite different now than they were roughly one hundred years ago. Advances in technology brought on by industrial global breweries as well as the craft beer industry have made finding “under modified” materials for brewing historical styles rather hard. Cole was able to source the “Six-Row” malt that was similar to that which was used prior to prohibition from Sugar Creek Malting Company. Sugar Creek is a family owned company located in Boone County, Indiana which specializes in traditional and historic malting practices. The recipe also called for a rather uncommon beer ingredient: soybeans.

“I’ve brewed with a lot of strange ingredients, but this is the first time I have ever put soy beans in a beer.” Cole added.

So why Soy beans? “They’re basically just a filler ingredient, much like rice in Bud-Light and corn in Busch. From what I’ve read, this wasn’t as uncommon of an ingredient in the days of prohibition. You have to remember this was an illegal operation at the time and in the midwest they were used to seeing truckloads of soybeans brought to warehouses in Chicago, it wouldn’t have attracted as much attention as truckloads of malt would have.”

And where did the soybeans used in this beer come from? Just a few miles down the road in Geneseo. The owner of Geneseo Brewing also operates a local farm which grows lots of, you guessed it, soybeans. Cole describes the beer as being somewhere between a German Lager and an American Light Lager with a ‘unique rustic taste to it”.
“We’re starting to see more small scale breweries creating and serving craft lagers. They are arguably the hardest style to brew. I apprenticed under a German Brewmaster and I think he’ll be excited to see I’m brewing traditional styles still, but I know he’ll think I’m crazy for putting soybeans in this one.”

The beer is called “Mob Ties” and will be on tap at Geneseo Brewing Company in Geneseo, IL starting this Friday, March 13th.
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If you would like more information about this topic, please call Glenn Cole at 618-971-3602, or email glenn@geneseobrewingcompany.com