Are Craft Beer Trends Moving Towards Lagers?
Every brewery is always looking for where the next beer style trend will come from. Will it come from some sugary dessert haphazardly thrown into the mash tun? Or is it some lost, forgotten style that only one family has been brewing for decades in the frozen tundra of Northern Europe? Since the dawn of the American craft beer movement, most brewing innovation has always focused on hops: the little flowering plant that causes people to line up around the corner for bitter beers. From Sierra Nevada’s quintessential American Pale Ale to the IPA bitterness races, and finally, to today’s Haze Craze focused on finding the juiciest New England style IPA’s, everything has been about hops.
IPAs still reign supreme. The largest 2021 GABF categories were ‘Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale’ (427 entries) and ‘American-Style India Pale Ale’ (404 entries). But are we starting to see a shift in trends? Though the combined India Pale Ale categories made a 60% jump in the number of entries with the ‘Juicy or Hazy’ subcategories in 2018, they have only increased by 19% since then. In that same time, the number of entries into the several different Pale Lager categories has grown over 56%, despite overall total entries only increasing by 12%. Even non-Pale Lager categories have increased by 47%.
How It is Made: Lager
But before we go too deep into what’s trending, a little background on lagers first. Beer is generally classified into two categories: ale and lager. Ale is typically defined by the yeast species used, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, which is top-fermenting and works best at warmer temperatures (usually 55° to 65° F). Ale yeasts typically create more fruit-flavored byproducts and are relatively quick to ferment, typically done in two weeks. Lagers, on the other hand, are from the species Saccharomyces Pastorianus and work best at lower temperatures (usually 55° to 65° F). “Lager” also literally means “to store,” as in the beer is stored cold for an extended time after the primary fermentation is done. This process allows the yeast to “clean up” any unwanted byproducts and flavors, leaving the beer cleaner and crisper tasting. Because lagers take longer to finish than ales, they aren’t usually seen as economical as ales are. This is one reason why the American Craft Beer movement started with ales first. So what makes lagers so unique and attractive? For that, we will have to go back and look at their history.
Brief History of Lager
At one point, most beers were dark, hazy, smoky, and probably a bit funky-tasting too. Pale malts were first created with a few advances in malting and kilning technology around the 1600s and 1700s. This allowed beer to be lighter in color and more economical to brew, as pale malts contain more sugars than their original darkly roasted brethren. The 1800s were also very important for beer as glass manufacturing was made more affordable. Thus clear drinkware became fashionable and promoted clearer beer. Carl von Linde, working for Spaten in Munich, invented mechanical refrigeration in 1873, which made lagering practices and general storage of beer easier. And French chemist Louis Pasteur’s work led to the reduction of spoilage bacteria in beer, as well as single yeast strain isolation that created more consistent beer. From these technological advances, we see the wave of lager tradition come to fruition in the first Märzen served at Oktoberfest in 1841, the first Pilsener (Pilsener Urquell) in 1843, and the first Helles in 1894. The development and the expansion of the railroad in Central Europe in the late 1800s, also allowed these new popular beers to be distributed all across Europe.
Craft Brewers Conference(CBC)
A common theme emerged during a recent trip to Denver for the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC). From the more established breweries (Prost Brewing opened in 2012 and Bierstadt Lagerhaus opened in 2016) to the newly minted (Cohesion Brewing Company literally opened only a few months ago), the trend in Denver is clear: lagers. Bierstadt has only four beers on tap (all lagers) plus one collaboration beer and one guest beer. While Prost had more variety on tap, they primarily stuck with the same German-style theme. And while I was unable to make it to Cohesion Brewing, this newly-opened and much-anticipated Czech-style brewery only has three beers of their own on tap right now (all Czech lagers) and almost all of their guest taps are various European-style lagers.
Texas Lager Beer Scene
While the Dallas-Fort Worth area is not the epicenter of the latest craft beer trends, we do have a neighbor down south that is on top of the latest beer trends and can typically give us an idea of the next popular trend.
Austin’s beer scene primarily grew in the early 2000s. Still, some of their older and more established breweries are the ones leading the way. Live Oak Brewing Company, founded in 1997, is known for its traditional German style of brewing and beers. While probably most known for their excellent Hefeweizen, they constantly churn out fantastic old-world style lagers, including their Pilz Czech-style Pilsner and Gold German-style Pilsner.
Though not as steeped in tradition as Live Oak, The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co. (ABGB) has won countless awards for their lagers, including Rocket 100 (2015, 2017, & 2018 GABF Gold and 2021 GABF Bronze Medals) and Industry Pils (2016 GABF Gold Medal). And on top of all that, they won consecutive three-time GABF Large Brewpub of the year from 2016 to 2018. You can also find other great Austin-area lagers in Real Ale Hans Pils and a whole assortment of lagers from Altstadt Brewing on most beer store shelves here in DFW.
So if lagers are the next big thing, where can you find them here locally? Starting with us at Funky Picnic, we say that we have a “Craft Beer for Every Taste,” which is no exception here. Our La Raza Mexican Lager and Vibes Kölsch are always on tap. They are very refreshing and easy-drinking no matter what season it is. We also rotate several other lagers in like our COASTERS!!! German Pils, Prostoberfest Märzen, or even our small-batch Czech Dark Lager, Czechoslovakian Hedgehog. Both Cowtown Brewing and Rahr & Sons focus a lot of their products on German-style lagers, as well as Franconia Brewing in McKinney. If you haven’t already, you will find out what everyone else is starting to notice: lagers aren’t scary, they’re delicious!
Author: Collin Zreet
Collin Zreet is a native Texan and is a founding member and co-owner of Funky Picnic Brewery and Café. He is a Certified Cicerone and Certified BJCP Beer Judge, specializing in beer and food pairings. When he is not thinking about beer, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Taylor, and dog, Rocco.