Craft lager conundrum

The posting title looks remarkably like "Craft Larger Condom."

 

Sounds like "semi-educated palate" is a gross overestimate.

 

I don't struggle with the price of craft lagers at all, especially since some very good ones are still pretty reasonably priced. Sam Adam's Noble Pils, Schlafly Pilsner, and Sierra Nevada Summerfest are all around $7-$8 a six pack or even cheaper. For a buck or two more I buy a lot of Victory Prima Pils and GL Dortmunder Gold in the summer, too. Two Brothers Dog Days Dortmunder is going to be in cans this summer, so I'll add that to my rotation as well.

If you want to stick with Mexican beers try Bohemia. Definitely a quality pils that I order when it's available at Mexican restaurants.

 

I mean, you might just have a taste for adjunct lagers. That's okay, too.

 

But really, it sounds to me that you're only looking for qualities from craft lagers that you can get from Tecate or whatever other adjunct comes in big-ass cans for cheap. I'm sure that Longfin and Shift have plenty of value and quality that go beyond what you're looking to get from them.

 

Anyone who confuses a Tecate with a Noble Pils, Prima Pils, or even the two beers cited in the OP (neither of which I have tried) might need to do a few more side by side comparisons. Tecate is the least flavorful beer imaginable, and what flavor there is has no hops and a bit of a chemical maltiness to it. OP says he can get it for free, IMHO that is value priced.

 

It's too bad you live out on the West Coast, because Jack's Abby Hoponious Union is the perfect lager--hell, it beats most IPAs. It's not the lightest beer around, but it's ABV is 6.7%, and the flavor is perfectly balanced. Plus, it's really affordable and is a great everyday beer.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26520/71820

 

I agree with much of what has already been stated; there is a very distinct difference in taste between a well crafted light lager (pils, helles, etc...) and a macro. Lagers are too often written off as being too light or weak in flavor, when in fact you can find a good lager to fit most any flavor profile you are looking for. Or maybe I am just spoiled by having one of the best traditional german lager breweries in my back yard (Olde Mecklenburg Brewery)

 

I can't help but think that there's a bit of hyperbole involved when people claim to taste no difference between American adjunct lagers, European adjunct lagers, European all malt lagers and German pilsners. Typically this person is a Swedish craft beer drinker who has adopted the American narrative of the macros tasting of nothing and applying it to Swedish macros, and typically also the continental lagers, pilsners and pale lagers alike. I wouldn't be surprised if there existed among German craft beer drinkers a sizable group who claim to taste no difference between a German macro helles, export or pilsner on the one hand and an American adjunct lager on the other. With the craft beer movement comes this idea of macro beer tasting of nothing (alternatively all tasting the same), and it seems to be adopted across different beer cultures.

To me a dry adjunct body together with a low bitterness (10IBUs) is not the same as a sweet all malt body with a moderate bitterness of 20 or so IBUs, and it's not the same as a dry all malt body with a bitterness around 30IBUs. Nor is the dry adjunct body with low bitterness the same as a dry adjunct body with a moderate bitterness. Or a bready malt body, not sweet, with a moderate bitterness. Then there are certainly tasting notes which are difficult to attribute to a particular ingredient, a signature if you will unique to a brand or a brewery which contributes to the taste as a whole which enables one to distinguish the sweet all malt beer with a moderate bitterness from one brewery from a similarly sweet all malt beer with a moderate bitterness coming from a different brewery, they're not interchangable and it's not as simple as a two dimensional space of dry vs sweet and low vs high bitterness.

And that's just the macros, without taking into consideration craft lagers which apply dry hopping and heavy late boil hop additions which provides for even more flavor complexity and differentiation. Add to this different malts used, in varying amounts, even in pale beers such as münich malts, caramel malts etc.

 

Here in the Portland are we are having a warm streak this week. Perfect for some delicious craft lagers! Every craft lager I've had has a strong flavor that is still crisp and refreshing. BBQ on Friday with some Ft. George 1181, or Summerfest!

 

I don't struggle with it at all. I mean, apart from my favorite shitty swill beers,* I take it for granted that True Micro and Craft Lagers cost more to make than Macros, therefore they cost more to package, market, and sell at retail. Sounds legit, right? And who can argue about whether or not the delicious awesomeness that is Sierra Nevada's Summerfest isn't a better buy than even the best Crafty lager out there, much less a revived Old School brand like 'Gansett -- however solid it may be?

Craft costs more, Craft is Better -- end of story!

*Which I drink religiously, by the way.

 

I notice a HUGE difference between Sierra Nevada Summerfest, Great Lakes Eliot Ness, Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold, Three Floyds Jinx Proof, and Victory Prima Pils when compared to even the "better" macro lagers (of which I think PBR is the best, though I haven't ever had Narragansett or Yeungling).

Maybe it's a craft "placebo" effect, but I suspect it's the raw materials (i.e. lack of adjuncts) that causes the large divergence in taste that I notice.

 

I have no problem drinking cheap adjunct lagers (especially outside in the summer), but for me there isn't that much of a price difference to justify buying cheap adjunct lager over cheaper craft options. Tecate definitely isn't free in Boston and for 3-5 dollars more per 12 pack I can be drinking Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, or Harpoon. I'd rather spend a few extra dollars and drink something that has some depth to it.

 

Yuengling, I don't think is anything special. Pretty generic to me. 'Gansett though, I dig. There's a special place in my heart for old brands that have retained some character (like Narragansett Lager, Genny Cream, Utica Club, etc.). Though PBR generally seems pretty vacant to me, in the flavor department.

 

Unfortunately, I've never had many of those. We don't get Utica, Genny, Yuengling, etc. here in WI. PBR is sort of flavorless, but it and Schlitz are much better than Miller, Bud, or shiver Coors Light. I actually think Coors ("the Banquet beer") is above average for AALs, too.

 

Ah, yeah and I've never had Schlitz. Do you get Sixpoint out there? They seem to be love-hate for a lot of people, but personally I think Sweet Action is a really good cream ale, and has the same kind of weirdly good, old-school adjunct characteristics in something like 'Gansett or Utica Club (I'd compare it to something available to you, but I'm really not familiar with WI beers to speak of).

 

Schlitz tastes like a better PBR, so you aren't missing much. I do get Sixpoint here. I love the Resin and 3Beans, and I thought Sweet Action was an okay beer. It had a bit of a strange taste to it, but it wasn't bad or offensive or anything. New Glarus Spotted Cow is the go-to cream ale for many here, but I'm not overly fond of it either. It's brewed with corn a an adjunct, and definitely has a corn taste. I just think I don't like cream ale as a style much. Thanks for the recommendations, though!

 

The OP referenced two beers that I have not tried. One beer mentioned was Ballast Point Longfin which is classified as a Munch Helles. Below is a review by Thorpe429 for this beer (I respect his reviews):

Thorpe429
Virginia

3.78/5 rDev +6.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours a light yellow with a pretty good white head. Smell is a little bit of grain and grassiness; not the best overall, but for its style pretty good. Pretty light flavor, not surpassing most others of the style as the nose did. Mouthfeel was light and crisp, and drinkability was nice. Overall, very nice for its style, but still lacking in too many departments to justify a higher score than this.

Serving type: on-tap

So, it would indeed appear that this beer is very much on the light flavored side which is not totally out of whack for this beer style. A web search was unsuccessful in finding out the amount of IBUs for this beer. Maybe it is around 16-22 IBUs if brewed to style?

While I can’t specifically comment to Longfin, I have had a number of Munich Helles beers that I have enjoyed: Weihenstephan Original, Sly Fox Helles Golden Lager, etc. A characteristic of this beer style is a pleasant (but subtle) bready malt backbone with moderate hop levels. I would venture to state that Munich Helles is just not a preferred beer style for the OP; too light in flavor for his taste?

When it comes to light colored lager beer styles, the flavor that will be most distinguishing will be the flavors derived from hops. A light colored lager will have little flavor influence from the yeast (the ‘crisp, clean’ thing that lager yeast brings to the table) and light colored malts provide subtle flavors. So, my recommendation to the OP if he desires to buy craft light colored lagers which have a non-subtle character then you should seek out hoppy lagers like hoppy German Pilsners. One beer that I would recommend is Victory Prima Pils; it has an enjoyable and very noticeable flavor from the hops that are used to make this beer.

Cheers!

 

Yep. Prima is a beer that I could totally see drinking out of those Fosters-style "oil cans." Victory makes a few beers that would be well-suited to that format, actually . . . Headwaters and Swing also come to mind. (But those aren't lagers.)

But seriously, could anyone else see putting down $3 for a single or $12 for a 4pack of those big-ass cans, if it was something like Prima Pils?

 

No problem, man. I kinda love a good cream ale. What I'd really like to see is a version of Sweet Action brewed with some rustic, spicy saison strain, but that's another story.

If I'm ever in Wisconsin, I'll definitely seek out Spotted Cow. It's kind of a classic around those parts, no?