Your Top 5 U.S Lager Breweries

Two Women is definitely different than it used to be. It's still terrific, but it's pale and crackery now vs. amber and nutty from 8-10 years ago. Looking at some older photos, it looks like there was an in-between version, too. I can imagine different people preferring new vs. old and vice versa. Still, I also love(d) their Oktoberfest, Totally Naked, Uff-Da, Cabin Fever, and Edel Pils, too.

Another place that deserves a mention out here is Zwei up in Ft. Collins. They're up there with Bierstadt in terms of quality and their Pils speaks to my personal tastes even more. Trick is, they don't send anything down here anymore and so they're very much under the radar outside of Ft. C.

 

Top 5:
1. Suarez Family
2. Urban Roots (Not lager exclusive, but they have a lot and they are excellent)
3. Jack's Abby
4. Live Oak
5. Bierstadt Lagerhaus

Honorable Mentions:
Von Trapp
Chuckanut
Enegren

 

von Trapp

 

It was originally a special release, then became a regular offering. I never had that first release, but I did have it (a lot) in the first couple years as a year-rounder and thought it had great German character.

Missed it for a few years and retried it and thought maybe my palate shifted, but my review was far from what I was drinking.

I like their Pilsners, but availability is spotty. Got to like Uff Da (retired?) when I realized they were making an old-fashioned, seasonal Wisconsin Bock (think Rhinelander and Point Bocks). Cable n Fever doesn't trip my trigger for a Heller Bock; oddly sweet and thin bodies. And as an Okto-Märzen fan, Staghorn is too American than German in character for me.

Sorry for the long rant on NG lager, but I really do like them as a brewery -- have since they opened their doors.

Bring back the Bohemian Pils!!

 

Human Robot
Jacks Abby
Notch
Suarez Family
Kuhnhenn
Honorable Mention: Trumer

Here’s the top of HR’s current tap list…


Current Draft List
CZECH 10° Czech Pale Lager | 4.2% abv | $7

Beautiful bready malt balanced with a kiss of floral spice. Decoction mashed with floor malted Czech pils malt. Hopped exclusively with Bohemia’s gift to the world, Saaz hops. Poured from Czech Lukr side pull faucet

POLOTMAVY 12° Czech Garnet Lager | 5.2% abv | $7
Subtle, yet satisfying. Translated as “half dark” this decoction brewed lager has a slight roast flavor from a touch of chocolate malt atop the finest floor malted bohemian pils and dark malts. Hopped gently with Czech Saaz.. Poured from Czech Lukr side pull faucet

RÖSTEN Helles | 4.8% abv | $7
Pale German style lager brewed with the medieval single pot method, in which all of the hot side ingredients are added at once. After a long step mash, water grain and hops are boiled together. The solids are then strained off and the resulting liquid is chilled and fermented with our house lager yeast. Poured from Czech Lukr side pull faucet

HALLERTAU PILS German Style Pilsner | 5.2% abv | $7
Hallertau pils is brewed as an ode to the industrial German pilsners of the 50’s to the late 70’s when technology allowed more efficient processes, but the liquid was still brewed “the old way”. We use a double decoction mash, 100% German Pilsner malt, and 100% German Hallertau Mittlefru hops.

SCHAUFEL Reifen Hopf | 4.8% abv | $7
Brewed with aged Styrian Goldings hops from the Zalec Valley of Slovenia. Grist of Vienna, high kilned wheat, and floor malted pils. We brewed this beer to evoke the early days of lager brewing in rural Europe. Amber in color, loamy flavor with a hint of of smoke and citrus. Aged hops lend an earthy, rounded bitterness.

DINKEL HEU Kellerbier | 4% abv | $7
Brewed with a blend of floor malted barley and spelt malts and 100% Spalt hops. Light and zippy with moderate bitterness and a dry, refreshing malt character. Notes of Heu (hay), light citrus and carbonic bite.

IN ONORE Italian Pilsner | 5.1% abv | $7
Rustic Italian style pils brewed with a single decoction and dry hopped exclusively with Spalter Select. Aromas of sagebrush and lemon play with a sweet pilsner malt base, subdued yeast expression and bright carbonation. In honor of the Original Italian Pilsner, Tipopils by Birrificio Italiano

DRESDEN CODEX Mexican Dark Lager | 5.3% abv | $7
A paradox, this “light” dark lager is perfect for summer nights. Big malt flavor, with a light body and easy drinkability. Brewed with US grown, high country Moravian barley. Cereal mashed with 40% corn. Hopped with Czech grown Saaz hops, then fermented and conditioned cold with our house lager yeast. The Dresden Codex is an ancient Mayan document which was found in a library in Dresden, Germany. The codex has been used to decipher Mayan hieroglyphs, and document the history of southeastern Mexico and its people.

 

Levante (West Chester, PA)
Tired Hands (Ardmore, PA)
Brix City Brewing (Little Ferry, NJ)
Love City Brewing (Philadelphia,PA)

 

Count me as one who really enjoys this latest version. I feel it's closer to the "Original" Two Women, which was a brewery-only release in half-liter bottles and is one of the best American-brewed pale lagers I've had.

Edit: They released a brewery-only pils this year, called 22 Pils, and it's very good.

https://newglarusbrewing.com/beers/ourbeers/beer/22-pils

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/590/602182/

Wish they would do a seasonal release of a pils again.

 

From the *Beers We Have Known and Loved -- Specialty* website page.

https://newglarusbrewing.com/beers/ourbeers/beer/two-women-lager

 

Interesting. I would have thought it was closer to the first year-round rendition, but having never had that first one...

 

On a related note, I was at Troubles End brewery (Collegeville) last evening and I ordered a mug of their Dinkel Lager (I googled “dinkel” to learn it is German for spelt). This beer was served via a Lukr side-pull tap. I thought that beer was quite tasty with the quality that the Germans would describe as süffig (very drinkable).

Hindsight being 20/20 I wish I had taken a photo of that mug.

Below is how Troubles End details this beer on their website:

“Kith n Kin - House Dinkel Lager (4.5%)

Poured off of our Czech Side Pull Faucet. A single decoction with spelt created a gold lager so we hopped it with some house-aged Hersbrucker in the coolship followed by a dry-hopping with Opal.”

In the brewery area I saw lots of empty Bestmalz Pilsner Malt bags. My guess that this beer is majority Pilsner Malt with a minority portion of spelt.

Prost!

 

I still haven't made it to Troubles End, but their tap list looked fantastic the last time I checked it. I think I'd have a hard time choosing.

 

But wait, there's more!

They also have a carefully curated guest tap list as well:

https://www.troublesendbrewing.com/guest-beers

I also ordered a Russian River Pliny the Elder last evening. That beer was fresh & tasty.

Cheers to good beers!!

P.S. And IMO the food there is very good. I typically order the Pork Schnitzel but last evening I mixed it up and ordered a Brisket Quesadilla which was excellent!

 

I love this thread. It has provided me with a bunch of places I wasn’t familiar with to add to my ‘list’ of breweries to try.

Lately I’ve been trading Letterkenny Puppers and the Rush beers for ‘good local lagers.’ Now I can ask about availability of some of these. Cheers!

I’ll add my favourite lager focused spots in Canada:

Godspeed
Silo
Maltstrom.
Slake

Im hoping a new spot that is within crawling distance from my mom’s place is worthy. True History.

I think both Bellwoods and Messorem Bracitorium make excellent lagers too, but are known mainly for their IPAs, stouts, sours.

 

I've made an effort in the past two years to try lagers from many of the excellent breweries mentioned in this thread, including Schilling, Jack's Abby, von Trapp, Notch, Live Oak, and Urban Chestnut. The beers I had from Bierstadt Lagerhaus and Dovetail were especially outstanding.

There's a Grand Rapids brewery that should be in this national conversation, because it's as good as any of the ones I mentioned: https://grbrauhaus.com/kusterer-beer/.
(Note: I don't have a personal or financial connection to them.) The GR brauhaus is opening on August 16; the Küsterer line of beers have been produced by Cedar Springs Brewing for many years, however. Their Schwarzbier, Hefeweizen, and Dunkel are among the best I have tasted.

 

Please keep us informed on how the beers at the Brauhaus turn out. Hopefully they ordered a brewhouse setup conducive to the beers they produce. And maybe they will install a Lukr faucet for serving their Bohemian style beers.

Cheers!

 

do they make any lagers besides their eisbocks?

Also, that human robot taplist looks pretty tops!

 

Their bocks are enough for me

 

@Chaz mentioned them and you quoted his post to boot. You must've been too focused on his listing of Capital

 

I remember when High Point -- Ramstein was such an anomaly in craft brewing. What? A micro-brewer making German-style lagers?!

I did my best to get my hands on some of their beers because of my love of the styles. Still wish they (and Von Trapp, and Jack's Abbey) distributed wider.