When you think of a lager, there are certain descriptors that immediately come to mind. Crisp. Refreshing. Bready. Spicy. Beers in the lager family are pillars—solid, reliable, hearty, and historic. Made for steins and drinking sessions, lager styles are the liquid bread we so often talk about. So, it only makes sense that in this age of experimentation, of pushing the envelope, of trying anything once, some brewers are asking whether you want some jam with that bread.
The current craft-beer revolution was built on the backs of ales from pale to stout. As the number of craft consumers grew, brewers expanded offerings. A traditional pale ale was dosed with blood orange or other citrus. Stouts got coffee, chile, and chocolate additions. Now, of course, is the age of the hazy IPA and pastry stout. But recent numbers from the Brewers Association show that the roughly 6,400 craft breweries in the country account for not quite 13 percent of the beer market in the country. Yep, you guessed it—the rest of the market largely belongs to the lagers and Pilsners made by those behemoth multinational companies.
Unadorned Lager
“Classic styles attain classic status for a reason, so Pilsner, bock, helles, and dunkel aren’t going anywhere. And while I do think there are optimal ways (and not so optimal ways) to brew those kinds of beers, that’s not to suggest that trying new things is in some way inappropriate,” says Dave Carpenter, the author of Lager: The Definitive Guide to Tasting and Brewing the World’s Most Popular Beer Styles.