Earlier this year we posted a discussion on our beer historical blog that showed how the Canadian excise regime from the 1870s until 1952 favoured the brewing of all-malt beer in Canada. In practise that meant most beer was made from a mash of 100% barley malt.

This varied from the contemporary American practise that mostly featured “adjunct” beer, meaning beer fermented from a blend of barley malt and a high-starch, un-malted grain such as corn or rice

At the same time, as discussed in our analysis, quality considerations were likely a factor in the all-malt regime enforced, as traditionally in the U.K. – and still in Germany for its lager beer – beer could be made only from malt, hops, yeast, and water.

The craft brewing phenomenon of the last 40 years has partially restored the older Canadian tradition of all-malt brewing.

By the early 1950s, Canadian excise rules were altered so that brewers had an incentive to mash, along with the traditional barley malt, higher-yielding, un-malted grains, or sugar. From that time our brewing tradition increasingly moved in parallel with that of the United States.