New Belgium 1554 is a lager now?!

Always has been. It was misnamed before.

The description on their website has called it 1554 ale but it has always said it uses their house lager yeast.

 

Yeah, I've talked with their reps about it a few times. They called it an ale because when they first released it the term "lager" had a stigma. It tastes far closer to the fuller bodied ales that were starting to catch on than the Bud Light people tended to imagine when lagers were brought up.
It has always been a lager and it's at least fairly close to a schwarzbier.

Not to spin this in a new direction, but "lager" is a VERY broad category. If you like 1554, I have a feeling you might like a lot more lagers than you realize.

 

Perhaps your taste buds have developed since the last time you've had the beer. It happens to me all the time.

I'm going to second Domingo"s comment about lagers. I know domestic beer drinkers that say they don't like ales because they don't like the bitterness. Just like ales, there are a wide variety of lagers out there, and a lot of lagers much like 1554.

 

I've always wondered about that, I never thought it tasted much like an ale, it was too clean(non-estery, non-roasty) for a dark ale. It's funny how so many Americans immediately associate lager with pale, insipid, tasteless beer when the reality is that there are so very many delicious lagers out there.

 

I don't care. I still like fideen-fidy-foe.

 

Now that Schwarzbiers are en vogue its okay for 1554 to come out of the closet.

 

Hope it doesn't taste any different, I enjoyed the few 1554s I've had a couple years ago. Wish New Belgium was more available near me, especially lips of faith.

 

Thanks, thood6 and Domingo, for the answers provided above.
Gonna close this one...