On August 6th, we talked all about lagers!
Lager isn’t a style of beer, but a family of beers (alongside beer’s other two families: ales and mixed fermentation). The lager family then encompasses several different styles that are pale, dark, strong, smoked and more.
First up, we discussed what differentiates ales from lagers, talked a bit about the history of lager to get an idea of the diversity of styles within the family, then chatted about why lager gets such a bad reputation… thanks to Prohibition.
Listen back here:
Ale vs Lager
This article from VinePair is a helpful place to start to explain what makes each family of beer unique:
https://vinepair.com/beer-101/ale-vs-lager-the-role-of-yeast-in-beer/
Lager history & style overview
Dave Carpenter literally wrote the book on lager, but this article of his is a nice little snippet of lager’s history and an overview of several different lager styles. (For more information, check out Dave’s book — Lager: The Definitive Guide to Tasting & Brewing the World’s Most Popular Beer Styles — I highly recommend it!)
https://beerandbrewing.com/lager-its-cool-again/
P.S. Wondering what decoction mashing is? Find a definition here:
https://beerandbrewing.com/dictionary/zW1F0j4QG6/
(It’s a bit technical, so don’t feel you need to read the whole thing. I’ll explain it briefly on Thursday!)
Lager Myths
There are lots of myths and misunderstandings out there about lager — hopefully this video from Jonny & Brad of The Craft Beer Channel will help to clear things up!
So, how did pale lager take over the beer world?
We’ll go much more into the history of lager — and pale lager, in particular — on Thursday, but these bits of reading will lay the foundation.
First, this article from CraftBeer.com, tells the story of the world’s first pale lager, Czech Pilsner, and how it conquered the world:
https://www.craftbeer.com/craft-beer-muses/pilsner-beer-that-conquered-the-world
Then, this short section from my book covers the impact of Prohibition on the brewing industry and how it helped shaped the image most of us hold of modern day lager.
But, as you’ll discover on Thursday, there’s so much more to lager than thin fizzy yellow stuff!
See you on Thursday at 6:30pm BST!
Natalya Watson, Beer Sommelier 