Most of the pre-prohibition beer was what we would call “micros” today. Emergence form prohibition is what created national beer.. bland, tasteless, white bread, boring. It wasn’t until deregulation when home brewing and micros re-emerged that real beer re-appeared – no adjuncts and hoppy goodness.
But, you have never tasted beer that is better the fresh 6 week out of ferment, conditioned, unpasteurized beer, when it is at its peak of flavor. Homebrewing leads to some bad results, but if you don’t get too crazy with your recipe, it is almost always just the way you want it and have never tasted it before.
The NappyOne
When homebrewing goes wrong ...
That's what the compost heap is for.
To which I would add that WW2 material shortages also contributed.
With malt in short supply, brewers started using adjuncts such as rice and corn. The brewers liked the reduced costs also and after the war, the recipes never got changed back.
To the detriment of the product.
Cheers,
knewshound