The hot new thing in craft beer? Good old-fashioned lager

Ok

 

Craft Lager isn't new - just one example from the article:

"Craft lager may look like a new trend, but Watson, the Brewers Association economist, sees lager as having been in craft beer’s DNA from its inception; think Sam Adams Boston Lager."

Cheers for beer that tastes like beer!

 

Creature Comforts makes a good one and the tagline on the can is quite simple, "GOOD - COLD - BEER"

Here is the description on their website - "The beer is brewed to be a highly drinkable lager that can serve as both an entry into craft beer for new consumers as well as a staple product in the fridge for those who love craft beer and sometimes want an uncomplicated, simple, and delicious lager."

I think it is a really solid lager but the reviews are rather poor on both on BA and the other beer rating site. People just don't seem to rate the more traditional styles highly because I think people don't tend to rate to style but rather rate to how it compares to their favorite beer which nowadays is probably an NEIPA, sour, or stout.

 

Yup, that is indeed the case. If a beer doesn't hit them in the head like a sledgehammer with hops or add-junks then the beer geeks are going to assign low scores.

But you and I know better!

Cheers!

 

"Glitter beers." Hmm.

 

I think these "Hey, there's craft lager now!" stories aren't well-grounded in craft beer history. While American craft beer always has leaned toward ales, I'm sure lagers made up a bigger proportion of craft beer sales in the '80s to '00s than they did in the '10s and now the '20s. The phenomenon that people are noticing is that the cool kid breweries that have opened in the last half-decade and are known for the now-tired standard lineup of NEIPAs, pastry stouts, and fruited kettle sours are adding a lager or two into the predictable mix. I think that's a good thing, as it provides a small dose of much-needed internal style diversity, and it's good exposure to beer-that-tastes-like-beer to a young generation that skipped right to the gimmicky stuff.

That said, it's notable that most of the breweries that are introducing a token lager are going for relatively low flavor, pale-shaded lagers. Yes, the article mentions maibocks and schwarzbiers and Baltic porters, and of course some breweries produce them (and long have done so), but that's really not the trend. Rather, the trend is craft versions of AALs, pilsners, helles, etc. And while some of those beers, especially pilsners, can be delicious, what sets them apart from other lagers is their accessibility and familiarity to the masses. That makes them consistent in purpose with the NEIPAs, pastry stouts, and fruited kettle sours that they sit next to at these breweries, which are so popular because they're accessible and familiar in a different way. But I'm sure some of these breweries do branch out deeper into lagers after they start that road, and, who knows, that may even lead them to producing beer-flavored ales for the first time. And then the circle will be complete.

 

Since taprooms are replacing taverns and pubs every brewery should have a nice standard house lager for $2-3 a pint. Oh wait most places will be charging $5-$7 a pint for the ice cold craft house lager??? no thanks then... I’d rather have the $8 10oz tulip of the BA Stout and then head home. Maybe that’s just me.

 

Rating to style is important, Although personal preferences are bound to creep in on a subject as passionate as beer.
I try to be objective on style and realize that I can't really rate beer styles I don't like.

 

A local craft brewery, Sly Fox has a new craft lager out now. It is labeled as Black Lager and it was collaboratively brewed with another local craft brewery Stoudts. Both Stoudts and Sly Fox are ‘old school’ craft breweries: Stoudts opened in 1987 and Sly Fox opened in 1995.

I had a draft pint of this new beer last evening and I enjoyed drinking that beer.

From the Sly Fox website:

https://www.slyfoxbeer.com/phoenixville

I thought you might be interested in knowing that Sly Fox has updated their online beer menu to indicate they have Reading Premium on tap. I met a good friend for lunch last week at Tired Hands and he mentioned he recently had a draft pint of Reading Premium at the new Sly Fox location in Malvern and he really enjoyed it. I will count that as a second vote for this beer.

Also, they now have a new collaboratively brewed beer of a Black Lager:

“Black Lager

Collaborative Black Lager

12.5 OG30 IBUs5.5% ABV

Hazies be damned! We’ve been brewing since before craft beer was cool, and our latest release embraces the punk spirit of those early days. We teamed up with some original beer rebels at Stoudts Brewing to bring you a beer that bucks the trends. What’s more punk rock than a black lager in a labeled 16oz. can? We don’t know. But we do know that this beer feasts on the souls of line mules, spits them back out, and laughs in the face of haze bois everywhere.”


Cheers to Sly Fox & Stoudts!

@rotsaruch

 

I don't know if this is true, but I've heard that brewers enjoy a lager after a long day at work brewing.
I never really met a craft ale that I didn't like, but, a Craft American Lager can be pretty damn good, and I try to enjoy them where I find them.

 

I neglected to mention in my above post (Post #10) that both Stoudts and Sly Fox have been brewing craft lagers since they opened: 1987 and 1995 respectively.

Cheers!

 

You hit the nail on the head for me. As many around these here parts know I have always been a big fan of Lagers, which was tough when it wasn't cool and everything had to be an IPA/hoppy something. But I am a numbers/dollars and cents guy too so when I am out (and don't need to drive anytime soon) it's really hard for me to justify paying $6+ for a 5-ish% beer that tastes about the same as anything else vs a higher ABV something else when I am in the mood to drink just about anything; with Lagers most taste about the same and you just don't get the variation that you can with some other styles. I view this as a good thing because of the reliability and Lagers are one of those hand me one at anytime and I will be happy beers but what I love about Lagers at one time may not always be fitting for another.

But yeah I am happy to see more out there and I continue to make it a point to buy more Lagers in the hopes that my dollars will help breweries want to keep making them.

 

It's not just you.

 

Still ISO Sour Me Unicorn Farts.

 

Anyone saying that Lagers should be cheaper than a brewery’s other beers is crazy. Lagers take longer to brew and are more difficult. If anything IPAs should be cheaper, but I digress.

Anyway, whenever a thirsty patron comes in and asks me what my favorite beer on tap is I often point out the lager or pils we have on tap at the time. There’s generally three types of reactions to this.
1. The person usually drinks Bud or Corona so they are excited to try a beer that is the same type, and most definitely not an IPA.
2. The person usually drinks IPAs and is surprised to find out Lagers aren’t always macro and tasteless.
3. The person isn’t from the U.S. and loves Lagers.

Of course there’s a fourth camp that appreciates the long history of great craft lagers and is excited to try a new and local one, but the first 3 reactions are more common. There’s a stigma to Lagers that keeps a lot of people from reaching for one, but the brands that created that stigma are the same reason a lot of people are reaching toward a familiar type of beer. ‍♂️

 

I think your understanding of the phenomenon is off. What you describe is certainly happening, but nobody is buzzing about lagers because Other Half is suddenly canning Crickets and Tumbleweeds. People are going crazy for lagers because breweries like Suarez are focusing on great lagers and saying to hell with the styles you mentioned above.

It would also be wrong to describe NEIPAs, pastry stouts, and fruited kettle sours as "now-tired" in a broader context (we are talking about national trends here) than just your own drinking preferences.

 

Cheaper, yes probably not. Competitively priced? For sure. I have seen way too many failed Lager experiments due to out of touch pricing for what it is.

 

I paid 5 bucks for a pint of lager beer (Black Lager, Pikeland Pils) at Sly Fox Brewpub last evening. Would you consider this competitive pricing?

Cheers!

 

The ultrahip taproom that solely features New England IPAs, pastry stouts, and fruited kettle sours -- along with, now, a pilsner -- is the biggest cliche in craft beer in 2020. It's like the brewpub with the golden ale, amber ale, brown ale, pale ale, and porter circa 2000.

I think a young brewery like Suarez (opened late 2016) is riding the wave of the newfound cool factor around lagers; it certainly didn't cause or drive it. It's notable that the places in which that sort of brewery gets a lot of attention are the places known especially for a hype-driven craft beer scene (such as New York state and southern New England). Similar breweries in the Midwest, with its much deeper lager brewing tradition, or in the western United States, with its much more entrenched and mature craft beer culture -- where such styles aren't a novelty -- don't garner nearly the same level of buzz.

I do think that it's great that a self-professed Other Half fan like yourself can appreciate core beer flavors; many can't (either never could or have lost the palate for the stuff). For the long-term sake of craft beer, I hope Suarez and the like, along with the token lagers at the hype factories, are able to ween some image-conscious newer or lost craft beer drinkers off of the gimmickry. That may be the way that we get an overdue return to beer-that-tastes-like-beer: By imitating the cultural trappings and buzz-based marketing (special releases, eye-catching labels, aggressive social media strategy, trendy taproom atmospheres, etc.) of beer-that-tastes-like-juice/desserts.