#craft lager

What's it for?

Put it in your GOB?

Decoction mashing is a technique often employed in Czech and German breweries. While mashing their grains, brewers draw off a portion of the hot wort and boil it in a separate chamber. Boiling breaks down the grains in the mash further and caramelized some of the sugar. When it is added back to the main wort, the beer takes on some color and flavor but it’s subtle. Decoction is what gives a Czech pilsner it’s darker gold color and adds depth to the malt flavor despite using only the lightest of malts.

The Horror!

We are in the midst of a Pilsner renaissance. The style which was once the epitome of corporate beer is suddenly ultra-hip. Every cool brewery makes a handful of IPAs, a barrel aged stout, and a Pilsner. In order to move the trend even further, brewers from Wayfinder, Modern Times’ Portland outpost, and Heater Allen made Terrifico, which they describe as an “Italian Style Horror Pils.” Apparently the Italians are making good pils.

In the Beer Bible, Jeff Alworth spent a whole chapter on emerging trends in Italian beer. One of the touchstones of the Italian brewing is Tipopils, brewed by Birrificio Italiano since the 1990s. It’s a straightforward pils but bent slightly to reveal new flavors. Where traditional pilsners are fermented cold, some near freezing, Tipopils is fermented warm allowing the yeast to form fruity esters and a fuller body. And while it’s fermenting, Tipopils is hit with two separate dry hopping charges, comepletely unheard of in a Pilsner. But it’s not like they use American hops. Tipopils uses all German hops for a super herbal, spicy flavor. 

Liquid Sunshine

There is nothing like a crisp Pils after a long day in the sun. Pilsner has a proud heritage, but the name was sullied by Miller Lite and its ilk. Pilsner was a buzzword, appended to boring beer to make it seem exotic. It’s taken decades, but now Pilsner is regaining its proper place. Authentic Czech Pilsner is on grocery shelves. Breweries across the country are making faithful recreations of the European originals. And a few are adding their own twists.

Old Portland

Kells Irish Pub is a Portland institution. The downtown bar encompasses almost an entire city block with all sorts of banquet rooms and drinking nooks. It’s an Irish themed pub on the edge of the weekend “entertainment district.” You get a mix of tourists, step dancers, rowdy townies, bachelor parties, and drunks.

About four years ago, in a stroke of genius, they opened a brewery uptown, to supply Celtic brews with a more reasonable margin.  That’s where we spent our Saturday afternoon, raising money for BonZeb, Inc -- creators of sustainable charcoal in Haiti -- and sipping pints on the patio. 

The beer selection is surprisingly varied. Though they serve three IPAs -- as all Portland bars must -- the menu includes two lagers and five beers under five percent alcohol. 

I started the afternoon with the nutty Irish Red Ale. It’s only four and a half percent, which might add to it’s flavor. When you imperialize a red ale, you lose some of that subtle flavor. Still, it tastes more American than European, but I thought it was a nice intro to the brewery.

Somehow, the Irish Style Lager is a traditional Bohemian style beer. Unless you weren’t sure: yes Bohemia is not part of Ireland. It’s a clean beer, crisp. But tastes more Bavarian than Bohemian to me. It has a weird fruitiness. Is that a banana? Huh.

Kells, being the largest Irish pub in the city, is a huge purveyor of Guinness. When they opened a brewery, it was both inevitable they would make an Irish stout, and understandable that they wouldn’t want to undercut their best selling product. Kells Irish Stout isn’t an exact clone, but it could make a Dubliner do a  double take. It’s got that roasted, vegetative flavor you expect. And that nitrogen infused creaminess.

New on the Shelf

It’s that time again, there are new bottles from pFriem on the shelf and we are going to try them. 

The Helles Lager is a nice summery slurper. It’s crisp and it’s clean. The all grain grist gives it a little sweetness, just enough. It tastes like cereal. Like multigrain cheerios. Multigrain cheerios with an herbal topping. LIke a savory breakfast.

The Brett Wit on the other hand does not deliver on its name. It’s neither wheat-y nor yeasty. I get vague impressions of Belgium on the nose, light phenol notes. It tastes completely normal, no wild funk. I taste crappy orange slices. Like a soggy navel orange slice. But the body is very dry, and there is an interesting hint at lemongrass.

A Pacifico by Any Other Name Tastes as Sweet

What makes a lager Mexican? I mean aside from the obvious. When you brew a lager north of the border how do you make it taste Mexican? Maybe it’s the corn.