Ah, lager. So
underappreciated. So taken for
granted. In a world of extreme this
& full-flavored that & in-your-face the other, which still largely
characterizes the craft beer culture, lager is often overlooked. Without doing any real research, off the top
of my head, I’d say craft ales outnumber craft lagers on our shelves about ten
to one. Just a guess. Not that lager hasn’t always had a place in
craft beer – heck, Penn Brewing spent the first twenty-plus years of life
brewing almost exclusively lagers -but it’s fallen by the wayside. BeerAdvocate ran a story a year-ish ago about
lager-centric craft breweries, & it kind of struck me as odd. You mean it’s that much of a rarity to find
small-batch lagers, enough to warrant a feature?
Along with other movements of focus – session, souring,
farmhouse brewers – lagers are kind of back on the trending margin among
America’s small beermakers. The first
barrel was tapped at Oktoberfest in Munich this past weekend, & it seemed
like an opportune time to showcase some of the breadth & depth of the lager
world for this month’s Top Shelf Thursday.
Lagers are nothing if not drinkable, & things launched
with the small, dark, & very drinkable Extra Schwarze from Germany’s
Innstadt Brauerei. This Schwarzbier had
a character that was both roasty & surprisingly fruity, & packed a lot
of flavor into a 5% ABV package.
A less well-known style that’s gained some traction lately is
the Kellerbier, a slightly hoppy lager that’s unfiltered like Hefeweizen,
giving the yeast a chance to play a more prominent role than most lagers
allow. Ungespundent-hefetrub, from Mahrs
Brau, complimented its light hop bite with an organic, even slightly funky
& sulfury character from the yeast, familiar but just a little novel.
I love what smoked malt can bring to a beer, & the
incorporation of smoke in lager often fits so much better than in ale (in my
opinion). Oregon’s Heater Allen Brewing,
an all-lager craft brewery, brought the smoke to their Dunkel, creating Rauch
Dunkel, with a meaty, bacon taste overlaying the toasty base beer.
We dove into another Kellerbier with Monchshof Kellerbrau from
Kulmbacher Brauerei. This one showed the
hops a bit less, with more cleanly fruity notes coming from the yeast (in a
cool swingtop bottle – love that “pop”!).
And we revisited the Dunkel (this time smoke-free) with Polar Vortex
from Two Brothers Brewing. Possibly the
cleanest so far, this carried lightly biscuity flavors with an interesting
finish & aftertaste, like brown sugar but drying quickly.
We hit on a classic
with Brauerei Aying’s Celebrator Doppelbock, already known & loved by many
in attendance. On the lighter side for a
Doppelbock at only 6.7% ABV, Celebrator yielded rich caramel, dark bread crust,
& a little date while being remarkably smooth & easy-drinking. And the little goat charms made for popular
souvenirs.
While the tasting had an air of tradition about it to this
point, we got propelled into the now with Founders Dissenter, described as an
Imperial India Pale Lager. Just pouring
the beer, I got a whiff of the strong tropical fruit aromas from assertive
hopping with American varieties, supported & amplified by the dank
character of the lager. The best of both
worlds.
And again, leave it to the Amerikaner to take the old world
& twist it, as Boulder Beer did with Dragonhosen. This Oktoberfest was amped up to an imperial
9% ABV, giving the familiar toasted malt profile a shot in the arm with a
warming alcohol & sweet aftertaste.
Old & new world met with a collaboration from Deschutes
Brewing (Oregon, 1988) & Distelhauser (Germany, 1811): their Doppel Dinkel
Bock. A weizenbock with spelt
substituted for the wheat (& technically not a lager – derp!), Doppel
Dinkel delivered everything the style should & more – one guest described
it as bananas Foster French toast.
Excellent.
We couldn’t bear to go too long without a pop-in from one of
the Bjergso twins, this time in the form of Mikkeller’s Frelser Tripelbock Holy
Ale [sic]. This big (11%), chocolatey,
pruney lager was christened with the Danish word for “savior”, in an homage to
the original Doppelbock, Salvator from Paulaner.
Can’t forget the bonus round! House Hall-of-Famer Ed was generous enough to
share some bottles of Mass Rising, a double IPL from Jack’s Abby Brewing in
Massachusetts. The hop-heads in
attendance unanimously agreed it was a home run. Thanks, Ed!
Dark, light, malty, hoppy, yeasty, clean, strong, mild,
& everywhere in between, this tasting showed that lager can cover a lot of
territory. Here’s hoping we see lots
more quality lagers being brewed by skilled crafters young & old. As always, a hearty thanks to those who came,
ate, drank, & socialized with open minds & senses. Catch you at next month’s Top Shelf Thursday!
Note: All umlauts
omitted due to laziness. Sorry,
Deutschophiles!
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