Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
Long Beach Beer Lab is celebrating both their 5th Year Anniversary and ultimate Oktober Lager Festival that will conclude on October 23rd but before then are some festive beers to try.
August
– Oktoberfest Marzen
– West Coast Lager with Casa Agria
September
– Oktoberfriends Festbier Vol. 1 The Long Beach Beer Lab version
– Oktoberfriends Festbier Vol. 2 The HopSaint version
– Crispy Pair of Levi’s Rice and Beans Pils with Untitled Art
I have saved the double winner for last. Ann Arbor’s Wolverine State Brewing picked up both Silver and Bronze this year.
SILVER – NZ Pils in the American-style Pilsener category
AND
BRONZE – Raucher in the Smoke Beer category
In addition to those winners, I would add the following to my taster tray….
Wheelbarrow Weekend – “a refreshing Munich Helles made with oats & fresh-squeezed lemon juice.”
Tundra King – “This new addition to our IPL lineup is in contrast to many of our other IPLs and hop-forward lagers because it’s even more injected with hoppy and bitter goodness!”
Gulo Gulo – “India Pale Lager (I.P.L.) is hopped with Cascade, Chinook, Columbus, Warrior and Pilgrim hops. It is dry-hopped once in the fermenter and then a second time with whole-cone Cascade hops before packaging.”
Barista – “We brew this beer in collaboration with Roos Roast of Ann Arbor. Karl the Brewer used to be a coffee roaster before joining the brewing world and so we put him in charge of the coffee side.”
Today I am doing a West coast vs East coast beer smackdown. But instead of doing an IPA, I am comparing lagers.
On one side is the new Anchor California lager and from the east is the Underdog Atlantic Lager from Flying Dog of Maryland.
The Anchor pours a dark yellow and has a sweet wheat aroma. The flavor is a touch to sweet for me and could use a burst of carbonation to cut through some of the slickness in the mouthfeel but it is a solid beer. I also love the backstory on how this is a re-creation of an old Gold Rush lager. So it has great history behind it. And I think the bear on the label would kick the ass of the Underdog on the Flying Dog label. But the beer is more sweet than refreshing.
The Underdog Atlantic lager pours a very light yellow with plenty of both foam and bubbles. There is really no aroma at all. There is no sweetness at all and has a tiny bit of metallic at the back. A bit dry as well. Very crisp.
The winner?
I have to go with the Underdog. It seemed more of a lager to me. The Anchor sweetness reminded me of the overly sweet industrial lagers though obviously light years ahead. I preferred the simpleness of the Underdog.
I have grown weary of writing this when I go to review a beer on the Ratebeer website: “I don’t know why this pilsner has such a low score.” or “Typical low score for a pilsner.”
I would have thought by now that pilsners, Kolsch’s, Helles’ and the like would have finally earned some love from the beer geeks in the world but as with session beers, it appears that the love still firmly focuses on high ABV monsters.
So my rant this month is a mini-Call to Arms for those who love the simple pleasure of a well-made lawnmower beer. Go out and buy some! Have some in your ‘fridge. These are the gateway beers for the large percentage of people who are still (amazingly) not into craft beer yet. So why are they dissed and skipped over? They should be held in esteem or at least acknowledged for their place in the craft beer eco-system.
And don’t stop with just buying and enjoying.
Post it on Untappd and rate it fairly. Don’t automatically give it one less start simply because it pours a light yellow hue. And do the same with the big beers, don’t give it 5 stars for being boozy. You don’t tell friends to see a movie that you haven’t seen so why do the same for beer? Dig a little deeper. When you go on Ratebeer or Beer Advocate, talk about the beer without bias.
I have said it before and I will say it again, if we do not appreciate all beer styles then some of those styles may fall by the wayside and that would be the exact opposite of what the beer revolution was and is about. We all wanted choice, not just Imperial Stouts or Triple IPA’s. This world needs Vienna lagers and blonde ales too.
These lighter beers take skill and time and must be appreciated for how hard they are to make. You certainly can’t hide flaws in these beers. And yet we treat them like the Brady’s treated Cousin Oliver, as a nuisance at the far end of the taster tray.
Let there be light!