Robert Allen

Detroit Free Press

This is not your dad's Stroh's beer.

With hops you can actually taste, a fuller body, clean finish and foamy head with lacing that lingers on the surface, the Detroit-made Bohemian-Style Pilsner (5.5% alcohol by volume) is angling for craft-beer cred.

It goes on sale across Michigan on Monday for a suggested retail price of $7.99 per six-pack. It's not fire-brewed. But neither is the cheaper, non-Detroit-made Stroh's Lager (4.7% ABV) or Light (4.6% ABV) made in Trenton, Ohio, that's already available.

The master brewer, Greg Deuhs, has been making Stroh's since 1994, when the brewery was still owned by the Stroh family. The pilsner is his recipe, made by local hands at Brew Detroit in Corktown through an agreement with Pabst Brewing Company.

"This is a brand that Stroh had made at one time and was a very good, credible beer," said Deuhs, who turns 53 this month. "And I think it'll resonate very well with craft beer drinkers as well as people that drink the regular Stroh's Lager."

The pilsner is all malt, meaning that there aren't any corn-based adjuncts found in cheaper beer, such as Stroh's Lager and many other mass-produced domestic brews classified as American lagers. The Bohemian-Style Pilsner's introduction comes as major companies such as Pabst, Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors lose market share to craft brewers, which have benefited from using more-flavorful ingredients for bigger, more-alcoholic beers.

Book: Family behind Stroh's beer one of privilege, self-indulgence

Between 2011 and 2015, craft brewing more than doubled from 5.7% to 12.2% of total U.S. beer production volume, according to the Brewers Association. The association defines "craft brewer" as a small, independent, traditional brewer — specifically, annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less. Also the brewer must be less than 25% owned or controlled by an alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer and produce beers that aren't flavored malt beverages.

Deuhs is master brewer for Pabst, which acquired Stroh Brewery Company in 1999. He said he has some historic Stroh's recipes, and the revived pilsner has elements of them in it. The Bohemian-Style Pilsner is made with Saaz and Magnum hops and Vienna malt. The bottles, embossed with the Stroh's lion symbol on the neck and a red, yellow and black vintage label, are stubbier than the long-neck bottles many will remember

The beer is to be "readily available" across the state, starting Monday, said Stroh's brand manager Eric Phillips.

"There certainly will not be a shortage for consumers," he said. And for the first time in more than 20 years, it's being distributed in kegs as well, so it's likely to be available in a number of local bars.

Stroh's is part of a collection of regional beers Pabst owns, such as Lone Star Beer in Texas and Rainier Beer in Washington. I asked Phillips whether Bohemian-Style Pilsner is the beginning of a trend toward similarly robust, locally made beers for the other regional brands. He declined any specifics but responded: "We're looking at getting back to the heritage and history of the brands."

For people who like craft beer and have nostalgia for local brews, this could be a neat thing, even though the company is part-owned by TSG Consumer Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity company far from the Motor City. It could revive fire-brewing.

"Depending on volumes and how the beer is accepted, I wouldn't rule fire-brewing out in the future, for this brand or any other future brands," Deuhs said.

The Stroh Brewery Company was started by Bernhard Stroh as Lion's Head Brewery in Detroit in 1850. With the purchase of Schlitz Brewing Company in 1982, it became the third-largest brewer in the U.S. The Detroit Stroh's brewery closed in 1985, and the Stroh family sold the brand to Pabst Brewing Company in 1999.

Brew Detroit also brews Kid Rock's Badass American Lager and multiple beers for Atwater Brewery.

The Bohemian-Style Pilsner debut happens as Detroit's core is in a period of revitalization; in fact, Brew Detroit was started less than two years ago. Deuhs said the timing is "a little bit coincidence," and it took a couple of years to make it happen.

"Stroh's is very dear to me, because I worked at the Stroh brewery in St. Paul (Minn.) and in LaCrosse (Wis.), and I know the pride that the Stroh family had for making beer," Deuhs said. "I think we're continuing on that tradition today, so I'm very excited to see this beer get to market."

Spirits of Detroit columnist Robert Allen covers craft alcohol for the Free Press. He can be reached at rallen@freepress.com or on Untappd, raDetroit; Twitter @rallenMI, Facebook robertallen.news, and Periscope rallenMI