In a conversation last week it was requested by Hoppingaround followers that I’d write more information on the different styles enabling a better conversations about the beer they are consuming.  This week I thought I’d start with probably my favorite style of beer the Lager.  Lagers use yeast that ferment at colder temperatures.  One of the unique features of the yeast used in the fermentation is that they sink to the bottom of the fermentation vessel where ale’s yeast floats to the top.  During the fermentation and bottling and conditioning the beer is kept cold.  For this reason, lagers were only made in colder regions where they could be stored in caves specifically near a water source.  The spreading of lagers world -wide did not occur until the advent of affordable refrigeration in the mid-nineteenth century. The spread was inevitably furthered with the invention of the refrigerated railroad car. 

When I was studying history at Loyola University New Orleans, one of the defining features that allowed for the movement out West as a part of ‘Manifest Destiny’ was the refrigerated rail road car.  People could get meat from larger cities like Chicago enabling movement into uncharted territory.  Prior to this salt was one of the only forms of preservation of foods.  It only makes sense that beer took this same route to spread over the U.S.. In one of my classes my professor thought one of the most important unifying features to the integration of the immigrant class (mainly German, Irish, and Italian) to mainstream America was beer, hot dogs, and baseball.  Workers young and old could enjoy these three products and have some sort of solidarity regardless of their personal origin.

Now I am going to describe the different styles of lagers.

Dunkel, Schwarzbier, Vienna, Tmavén, Baltic Porter,:  Dark lagers.  It is thought that all lagers prior to the creation of refrigeration that all lagers were dark.  These beers are generally amber colored to a dark reddish brown with a medium body and generally one of the more sweeter lagers. When I was in Germany these were one of my favorite styles.  My friend Justin and I would order these by the liter for dinner. Most of the time there you don’t get much of a choice of brand.  Beer is really consumed based on where you are indicative of which beer is produced.  An example of a dark lager that is not bad but might be a search in this style is Friedrich Dull Krantheimer Urtyp Dunkel.

Eisbock:  Strongest lager produced.  They make this beer particularly strong by partially freezing the beer and removing water from it.  This is generally consumed as a winter beer.  An example of this style comes from my hometown and a local brewery Trinity Brewing Company’s ‘Stop Making Sense Eisbok’.

Dopplebock:  Generally stronger and maltier than most lagers but not as high an alcoholic content of an eisbock.  This beer is thought of as a fall style beer.  A great example and one of my favorite brewing companies is Spaten’s Optimator.

Maibock or Hellesbock:  Originally from Munich this is a spring time style.  Comes primarily from the south of Germany.  This beer is generally strong bodied with heavy malt and medium hop undertones giving it a crisp, clean taste that does not linger. Golden color similar to a pilsner.  One of my favorites and great all the time.  Grolsh Brewing is my all time favorite in this style but can’t complain with Heineken or Spaten.  I remember this was the first style of beer I had in Europe.  Got off the plane in Frankfurt where Becks is the big brand and had two liters then passed out in friends car from sleep deprivation.

Pilsner:  A pale lager.  This style was invented in what today is modern Czech Republic.  Pilsners are very light, golden yellow in color.  They can have floral aromas and are generally peppery to me which I think is added in the conditioning phase to help accent some of the more subtle flavors in this generally weak flavored beer.  A good example of this style is Pilsner Urquell and there are literally hundreds of bad examples.  I generally hate pilsners.  They can smell like a urinal to Budweiser, which there is not that much of a dividing line.  I know it is an American Staple and a revered past time drinking a Miller or Coors but I can’t take what we make on a grand scale in this country.

Märzen: Red and amber lagers.  This style originates from Austria in the 19th century.  Very malty with generally a toasted malt flavor.  Sweet undertones with a light hop aroma.  These beers are generally associated with Oktoberfest.  Hoffbrau is a great example of this style or my last post about Firestone Walker’s Oaktoberfest.

Kölsch: Originated from Cologne, Germany.  This beer is light, golden coloration, mild malt and hops, not much of an aroma.  It is like a pale lager except for one differentiating step in the fermentation.  It is fermented warm then chilled when conditioning.  Not technically a lager, but very similar in taste.  Also a unique feature of this style in Germany is served in a small glass, I’d say 12oz.  A great example is Great Divide’s Kolsch, a Denver creation.

In my pursuits of trying new beer concoctions, I am pleased to say I have found a winner.  Those who know me are aware of my love of lagers a German Märzen bier. This type of beer originates from Bavaria, Germany.  The name ‘lager’ is a reference to how they would make the beer as they would store the beer in the hillsides to keep the brewing cold in the olden days around the 16th century.  Oaktoberfest is a seasonal beer from Firestone Walker Brewing out of Paso Roble, California founded in 1996 originally SLO Brewing Company.  I had never heard of this brewery and assume they are still a relatively small operation.  The beer itself was not a high ABV and was relatively mild.  A good balance of malts and hops with a beautiful amber coloring.  A wonderful oak aroma and sweetness in the after taste almost like apricot.

A stone throw from my apartment is this little wonderful specialty butcher/restaurant called Choice City Butcher Shop.  This butcher shop has been named in the top ten restaurant/bars in the world.  They always have a great selection of international and craft beers along with incredible meats.  This beer was paired with their amazing meatloaf sandwiches on toasted sour dough bread with sauteed onions and peppers with a red pepper aioli sauce and a side of their homemade garlic mash potatoes with some of their homemade pork green chili on top.  A perfect combination.

Choice also does beer and four course dinners for all those interested in learning to pair beers with foods.  Generally they pick a specific brewery and the brewers come and talk about their food.  I think this is a monthly gathering costing about $60.  This month the dinner is with Epic Brewing.

This week I took a trip down to the Philippines, well not really I sat on my couch,
but I was drinking a Filipino dark lager. I met a new friend down there called Sam
Miguel, dark lager. As he told me his history about how he was a distinctive lager
brewed with only finest ingredients and brewed in the tradition of excellence, I
began to understand why he would proudly display himself as “the ultimate choice
for discriminating drinkers.”

Sam Miguel has a rich full body with a reddish brown color and an off white head.
The smell is a little sour, almost as if it is a cask ale. The taste doesn’t reflect that,
however, and definitely has a crisp lager taste. The after taste has nice caramel taste
to give a sweet finish. Sam Miguel is a good dark lager, just aching to be drank in the
hot summer but drink it quickly because Sam turns on you the warmer he gets.

Living in Old Town, Fort Collins I am very fortunate.  I live within walking distance seven breweries.  Fort Collins Brewery is not one of my favorites.  I do appreciate that they try new things and not become consumed by producing beer that fits traditional standards.  The thing with trying new beer is not all of them are going to be winners.  Sometimes you just take a suggestion from the bar tender and hope for the best.  This time it tore apart my stomach.  I am not sure what I was expecting.  The bar tender said this was her new favorite a seasonal first time beer.  Tasted and smelled of hatch green chillies, and porters are always on my list especially when they are not coffee flavored.  I had a sample and made the mistake of ordering a half pint.  This was the only beer I had that night I was so grossed out.  At 7.2 ABV and spicy chili flavor in my stomach I was feeling like a hot mess.  I am writing as a warning, please drink with a side of anti acid.

★

A pub crawl consists of one or more people touring, hopping, and drinking at two or more bars.  The phrase, according to the Oxford dictionary, originated in the nineteenth century.  The largest pub crawl on record actually occurred last December in Chicago, Illinois called the ‘Twelve Bars of Christmas’ containing 10,000 crawlers.  Generally these tours mark a special day, holiday, engagement, birthday or promotion.  Crawlers also wear some sort of marker that signifies their membership to the crawl such as a shirt, hat, button, or sash.  The reason I felt inclined to define this event was when describing my weekend to my mother I had to explain what the event entailed and I believe she is not the only one.

This particular day marked one of my best mate’s ‘golden birthday’ where he turned 25 on the 25th of September.  His girlfriend made each member of the group a t-shirt dubbed with the 25 on front and ‘gold team’ on the back along with one glow stick.  We marched about Old Town, Fort Collins, Colorado and had each member of the group responsible for buying one round of drinks at a bar.  We danced, sang, listened to live music and socialized.  It was truly fun evening and a spectacular way to mark Adam’s turning a quarter of a century.

Another fine Friday, the perfect day for a pint! Now to be fair, I actually drank this Thursday night; but don’t get me wrong– I’ll be finishing the growler today. This fine, red-haired beauty is from a brewery known simply for where it’s located: Fort Collins Brewery, another fine, established brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. As I pointed out before, I got this in a growler, so it was fresh from the brewery’s tap!

Upon pouring, you can see a reddish-brown hue with a dark cream/brown colored foam, as you experience a sweet, almost caramel, smell. The taste begins just like the caramel smell, but ends with a fantastic bite from the bitter hops. The hops make a great finisher for this fantastic red/amber ale. The beer has a sweet taste for non-hop head fans, with a wonderful bitter for IPA diehards. A beer to bridge you from one taste to the other, all with a wonderful taste.

★★★★

Can’t have gluten? No problem! New Planet, brewed at Fort Collins Brewery but based out of Boulder, is made just for you! After some research I found that New Planet makes three gluten-free brews. Their 3R Raspberry Ale is won a bronze metal at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival. I will keep an eye out for it and write about it soon.

This week though, I tried their Tread Lightly Ale. It is VERY light and I’m sure all you Bud drinkers out there would actually like this brew. It is only made from sorghum, corn extract, orange peel, hops, and yeast. I’m a fan of heavier flavors so I tried this with an open mind.

Upon pouring I noticed a very light head, if any at all. Color is very light and very bubbly. The orange peel dominates smell with some hops at the end. As far as taste: much like the smell, orange once again dominates and an almost apple sweetness arises. Soon after a bitterness takes over but continues to be well-balanced. I didn’t really get a lot of hops but then again, then is very drinkable.

Over all this is good as far as gluten-free goes, given that, I tend to like heavier flavors. Personally, I do not plan on having New Planet again but, if you’re on the hunt for a decent gluten-free beer Tread Lightly might be for you!

★★★

I got to tell you, never hearing of this brewery and going there on a whim, I really loved Mountain Sun Brewery.  First off, the employees were incredibly helpful.  I said to the bar tender what do you like and he without question pours me one of everything on tap.  I am not going to say that I enjoyed all of them, but they were not all bad.  In fact I drank three of their Irish Nitro Stout.  Incredible beer with a hint of sweetness from a little cocoa and toasted taste, no coffee made an incredible Irish stout. Second, the atmosphere was awesome, wish I would have caught them before the kitchen closed because the food looked and smelled incredible.

I cannot tell you exactly where this place was in Boulder, Colorado because it was night time and I do not know Boulder.  Last but not least they had live music on a Monday.  Now I do not generally do not go out on Monday nights especially to a town an hour and a half away but my classmates from Loyola University New Orleans were the band.  The Dirty Bourbon River Show.

Amazing musicians.  Every song is different, complex and interesting.  I cannot give them credit enough for their enthusiasm and creativity.  Their music is a mixture of Gypsy, Folk, Jazz, Blues, and Rock.  So to the pub thank you for being so apt to helping me learn about their work and my friends you without a doubt made the night of the year.  Can’t wait to go back and catch another show at this wonderful little brewery.

Today was something weird and wonderful put on by New Belgium Brewery.  This is the first wild festival I have been to since Mardi Gras.  Tour de Fat is an opportunity to be weird, push boundaries and have wonderful beers.  Young and old woke up today, some earlier than others, to begin dressing for the day.  While most of the country today got on their college apparel and headed for their team’s game, Fort Collins, Colorado people put on wigs, makeup, sparkles, costumes, and crazy hats.  The Tour began with a couple mile long bike parade, then a beer garden with all New Belgium products, live acts, and tons of people watching.

This festival promoted having fun, environmental stewardship, music, and being silly.  New Belgium truly is a wonderful company.  They are employee owned and operated.  They are something like 40% wind powered, the bought wind credits,solar powered bottling and packaging, state of the art energy efficient heating and cooling systems for brewing their beer, they collect their own natural methane behind the factory and filter their water waste before returning water to the city.  Even the big breweries like Guinness have come to Fort Collins to learn about energy efficiency in Brewing.  Best of all they give away beer at the brewery and do amazing things in the community like Tour de Fat and give all the proceeds to charity.

Look at the pics and videos and decide for yourself.  Tour de Fat is scheduled all over the country annually I think in the states where New Belgium is sold which is 28 states now?  So there is a 50/50 shot you could participate.  Check out their website and I highly suggest their product not only is it delicious but they are a good company.

As I stated a week ago I gravitate towards anything with pale ale in the title.  For any new readers check out my last post about Ranger IPA for reference.  Also for anyone keeping track besides me this is my third straight article about something involving New Belgium.  This may make many people think that this is my favorite brewery.  It’s not.  It’s good, don’t get me wrong, obviously otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about it so often.

Belgo is a belgian india pale ale.  Belgo has a beautiful golden color, and smells very floral with a hint of sour notes.  Most people are scared away by IPA’s due to hops but this IPA is calmed down and more mild than most IPA’s.  In direct comparison to New Belgium’s other IPA Ranger it is much more mild on the hops.  Belgo has a really smooth taste with a nice hint of hops.  The first taste brings a taste of spice and ends with a bitter of hops.  All of it goes down smooth.  Belgo is definitely in the top three for seasonals, depending on the seasonal, good looking beers on the seasonal.  Ha sorry small Flight of the Conchords joke there.  In all serious though it is very good and worth a pint.

★★★★