When you brew beer you can brew for you, for the crowd, for the beer geeks, or for the judges. Some styles actually let you do all of the above, though, and while some might think I’m out of my mind I’m going to tell you that one of those styles is the International Pale Lager.
Yes, a paragon of nondescript generality that includes Corona Extra among its BJCP Style Guidelines Commercial Examples is quietly one of the better beers you’ll brew. Why? Because it leaves a surprising amount of room for interpretation, can range relatively high in ABV for a light lager, and also rewards clear expressions of subtle flavors (which is easier than subtle expressions of strong flavors, from a production standpoint).
Trust me. Just for a minute or two.
STYLE
The guidelines on this style are misleading, and reward a thorough reader. The Overall Impression notes it is a “highly-attenuated pale lager without strong flavors…” which sounds pretty boring. If you dig into each flavor component, though, you see that there’s a lot of room to work. Yes, hops expression starts at “none” but then wanders up to “medium,” and can be spicy, floral, and herbal.
Malt is “somewhat neutral,” but also allows for moderate bread, cracker, and grainy flavors, with noticeable malt sweetness. Bitterness can be up to 25 IBUs (we’ll cheat a little there and go higher), and ABV can be as high as six percent, which isn’t exactly a strait jacket in terms of alcohol flavors and expression.
If you go to where this style can go (not just where multinational microbreweries take it), you can end up with a substantial lager with great light malt and old-school hops flavors that lands nicely short of Pilsner but well clear of boring. Oh, and carbonation tends to be high, which again gives lie to the notion of this as a chugger of a beer style.
RECIPE
The recipe here isn’t breaking much in the way of new ground: it shares a lot of DNA with my other light lager/hybrid recipes like Kolsch and Pilsner. We start with nine pounds (4.1kg) of Pilsner malt and one pound (0.45kg) of Vienna, then a quarter-pound (0.11kg) each of acidulated malt and Crystal 10L. Why those two? Because the combination provides a trace of bright acid and a touch of obvious sweetness in the finish, both of which add some flavor interest that fit the description in the guidelines.
The Vienna should add some light spicy/grainy flavors, and your Pilsner malt tastes like biscuits and honey and, well, Pilsner malt. We’re at an OG of about 1.057, which is pretty solid for a light lager.
Hopping is simple, if higher than most expect: once ounce (28g) each of Saaz, Tettnang, and Northern Brewer, all added at the 15-minute mark. That will give us about 28 IBUs and a significant dose of floral flavor (Tett), herbal flavor (Saaz), and woodsy flavor (Northern Brewer). The combination is really pleasant, and when very young it’s a little high for the style but post-lagering it lands perfectly at “medium.”
Finally, for yeast I prefer the Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager. Almost any lager strain will do here, but the 2206 has always burned right through most of the available sugars and then cleared up nice and fast for me, which is how I get away with my “whoops, forgot to make that one” Oktoberfest beers in time for the fall parties.
PROCESS
Mash, lauter, and sparge as usual. Boil as usual. Add hops as usual. Chill as usual. Then oxygenate the heck out of that wort. We want a clean, complete fermentation, and the more oxygen the better.
Ferment at 50F (10C) for about a week, then let it free-rise to whatever’s going for room temperature in your basement or a cool room in your house. Cold crash to clear it (even more), and then carbonate to 2.5 volumes of CO2. You can go higher, and if you’re serving on a keg then by all means tinker with your pressure to run it with a little more carbonation (you might enjoy the result), but 2.5 is plenty for me.
The extra CO2 will add some more acidic bite, but your acidulated malt addition should provide some, and it will add some body, but your higher OG should take make that kind of moot. But, as I say, you might like it, so give it a whirl!
IN CLOSING
This beer holds up surprisingly well to age – it’s won me gold medals at more than a year old – and the hops flavors are soft enough that even when they’re too high they don’t feel too high. So, what do you end up with? A beer you’ll like, that can serve a big (and mixed-palate) crowd, with a hops blend that should intrigue the beer geeks, and has enough punch and interest to stand out on the competition table. Not bad for a boring fizzy yellow lager, eh?