This is the 10th issue of The Brew Man Group (12th if you count Tin Soldier!). It is therefore curious to note that yours truly have not yet discussed the top-selling beer style in the world; the lager (specifically the pale variety). Why is this? Is it because they don’t have any history to speak of? No. Is it because they’re all awful? Hell no! Is it because we’re too pretentious and refuse to discuss such commonplace things? Possibly… Regardless, it is about time that Dan and Neil bring you essential information on the golden, crisp style that is the pale lager. And just to make things more fun, we’re going to do some analysis using the ultimate beer geek weapon: the blind taste test.
Dan: Long ago in the 16th century, before Nickelback ruined everything forever, Bavarian brewers were forced to brew in only the colder months of the year. This required them to store the beer in cold caves, where it would be left for several months and then brought out as required for summer drinkin’ (or if it was too hot then people could go down and have some sweet cave parties). This process is referred to as ‘lagering’ and results in a clean, crisp beer. What’s tricky is that this has been happening for longer than people have understood the process of fermentation, so the early lagers were about as consistent as Neil’s home-brew. Thanks (at least in part) to Louis Pasteur, we now know that lagers require a strain of slow-acting yeast that ferments at a lower temperature. With this knowledge, the Bavarians formalized their lager brewing technique by the mid 19th century and were quickly mimicked by other European brewers. It should be noted that there are many styles of lagers, such as Dunkel (dark, such as Waterloo Dark), Rauchbier (smoked), and Märzen (brewed in March for that autumn’s Oktoberfest). As such, referring to a beer as just a ‘lager’ doesn’t necessarily tell you about its colour or flavour.
Unfortunately it isn’t examples like Ontario’s Creemore Premium Lager or Czech’s Pilsner Urquell that make the pale lager the most popular style today; it’s the cheap adjunct lagers like Budweiser, Molson Canadian, and Coors Light. An adjunct lager is one that instead of using pure barley malt, will use other, cheaper grains in its place (corn and rice being most common), resulting in a more bland beverage. Hey, at least they’re ‘cold tasting’.
Neil: So everyone knows Dan and I are pretty arrogant. In fact, some might even call us Arrogant Bastards (hehe). But to show everyone that we give all beers an equal chance to shine, we decided to eliminate brand bias from the equation. Behold, the mighty blind taste test, a judgement tool used to separate aspiring beer connoisseurs (Dan and I) from the pompous fakes (Stella and Heineken lovers). As a new concept, we decided to start simple with the “oh so diverse” pale lager genre (thanks Dan). Anyway, five beers each should be enough for comparison, but for overlap we decided on three easily obtainable beers: Budweiser, Löwenbräu, and Sapporo. For the remaining two, we each selected from our respective regions.
Admittedly as a lover of extreme beers, I was nay content with the thought of reviewing lagers. When I heard I had to review five lagers, three of which are Japanese lagers I almost lost myself to despair (thanks again Dan). So to keep things interesting, I formulated a simple game to keep my sanity. Basically, I will focus on matching each lager beer to a brand and also give a rating. In contrast, Dan will rate and give his impressions on the taste without any attempt at brand association. This should help put into perspective how image and marketing affect our views on beer. This might sound slightly confusing, but read on and see how it goes!
Dan’s results:
1) Pours a clear amber with moderate head retention. Lots of toasty caramel malts and a moderately hoppy finish. Very enjoyable. [4/5] Creemore Premium Lager
2) This one is a medium hazy yellow and gives off some very interesting fruity aromas. Taste is full of toffee, fruits, and grassy hops. [3.8/5] Neustadt Lager
3) A crystal clear yellow beer, though not much head and therefore not much to smell. Tastes like a basic lager; grainy with grassy hops with little aftertaste. Not offensive, but to be fair there isn’t really enough there to cause offense. [2.6/5] Sapporo
4) Clear yellow that also doesn’t give off many aromas. Nice grainy malt flavours though little to no hops and not enough carbonation. [2.6/5] Löwenbräu
5) An extremely pale clear yellow beer with a somewhat floral, but not very pleasant aroma. The flavour has a light grassy touch with little hops and an odd sweetness; not enjoyable really, so I’m thankful for the lack of aftertaste. [1.8/5] Budweiser
These are essentially the results I would expect, though I am surprised I did not rank Löwenbräu higher than Sapporo. I’ve had a soft spot for the ‘Lion’s Brew’ for a long time now, but this is a lesson that your taste buds don’t know about all the umlauts on the can.
Neil’s results:
Non-distinct aroma and pale body, I would usually associate these with typical Japanese brew. Jumping to conclusions, I assign it to Kirin Lager. [2.5/5] Sapporo
The lightest colour of all, this beer has no offending smell or taste. A hint of hop, maybe. I figured this one is the Japanese lager Sapporo. [2.2/5] Löwenbräu
Looking at this one, I see a very small difference in colour. The taste reveals a stronger malt profile. I assign it to the only craft beer, Echigo. [3.5/5] Echigo-Brau
Palest appearance, easy drinking with faint malt backbone. Having some past experience with the sight and smell of this brew, I guess Bud. [2.2/5] Budweiser
5) By default, my final guess has to be Löwenbräu. With a slight skunky smell, this beer doesn’t match my idea of a German lager. Oh noes! [2/5] Kirin Lager
After my poor results in the blind taste test, I was truly surprised that I couldn’t pick out the German lager Löwenbräu from the mix. Interestingly enough, I had a REAL German down the hall perform the same test (he swore would succeed). But much to our amazement, he also assigned Löwenbräu to Sapporo! I guess this goes to show that indeed, our views on brands will carry over as bias towards taste. I promise to not bash Heineken lovers as frequently, at least when discussing the lager genre.
Props to hops // Dan and Neil
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