Craft beer can be confusing to the average consumer.
When you find a section devoted to it at a store, you encounter a wall of cans and bottles all yelling at you with silly or cryptic names, and various labels with designs that are sometimes garish, and other times staid. You have to figure out what type of beer you’re looking at, and how fresh it is—and if you don’t have a specific type of beer in mind, the process can be overwhelming.
To hopefully make this process a little easier, I’m going to go over some “simpler” beers, especially with the warmer months already looming. These styles all fall under the aegis of “lighter lagers”—and this section has seen increased love from the craft-brewing sector in recent years, leading to some stellar beers.
Let’s start with the American light lager. More and more craft brewers have been making their own versions, which is fantastic news. Logic Light from Bottle Logic Brewing is a prime example and my recommendation. It’s 4.2% alcohol by volume, with a light pilsner malt body, and a very light touch of Columbus hops—it’s a light lager done right. It’s basically a German pilsner made in Orange County.
At this point, I should let the cat out of the bag: Most of the beers I’m going to detail here are the result of American drinkers and even some brewers discovering or re-discovering the beauty of “Old World” lagers. Lagern, after all, is the German verb “to store,” so why not mine the wealth of experience in this area of the world? (No, I don’t mean to lump the Czechs in with the Germans given the history—but let’s allow beer to bring us together, shall we.) While we’re at it, I will repeat something I believe deeply: Lagers are the true test of the quality of a brewer. There’s nowhere to hide your sins in these “simple” beers; you either did it well, or you did not, and there is a subtle art and beauty in that.
There has been a bit of hoopla in the beer world about the Kirkland Lager at Costco. Deschutes Brewing produces it, and they have a history of making very solid, no-frills beers, such as the still-delicious and well-made Black Butte Porter. Costco killed this branded beer in 2018 after a less-than-stellar reception (when it was brewed by a different contract brewer). In walks Deschutes with a Munich Helles-style lager recipe that won a gold medal at the 2023 Great American Beer Festival, and Costco slaps on a price tag of $13.99 for a dozen 12-ounc. cans. If you’re unfamiliar with the style, think German pilsner, but with a touch more malty flavor of browned bread, and floral, herbal or spicy hop notes. Deschutes’ version is light even by German standards at 4.5% ABV, but pick yourself up a pack of that and a Costco pizza, and you and your friends will have a great night.
Most likely, the craft-lager type you’ve heard most about in the past couple of years is the rice lager. This may sound exotic, but it is quite common in certain mass-produced lagers (especially in, but not limited to, Asia). It is essentially a pilsner that uses rice as part of the malt bill to lighten the body, but the brewer still provides the yeast with fermentable sugars so that the beer won’t be too light. For some reason, this type of lager (it is not a style or substyle on its own) caught on, and a number of breweries I respect have been making their own versions for a few years, including Beachwood Brewing (Hayabusa Lager) and the aforementioned Bottle Logic (Hanamachi Lager). As you might have guessed, I am not the biggest fan, because it feels like people are trying to smuggle Budweiser into craft beer—and I want no truck with it. As much as I love the two breweries I just mentioned (and their lagers when they do them), I’m looking for something that doesn’t remind me of the dark days when it was hard to find beer better than Budweiser.
That being said, Bottle Logic’s nearby friend, Green Cheek Beer, recently made a “Rice IPA” in collaboration with Breakside Brewery from Oregon. Apparently, Breakside brews a rice IPA of their own, and the result of the collaboration is a delicious, light-bodied hop explosion. Burgeon Beer Company has done the same in the past, so let’s hope for more interesting uses of adjuncts like rice in the future.
Here I am at the end of another column feeling like I barely got started. Let me quickly mention an amazing Czech-style pilsner from Bottle Logic that I’ve found cans of on the shelves at Total Wine and More: Slappers Only! I had the joy of having it on tap at their taproom replete with three different, traditional types of pours (which I can’t get into here, but click this handy link for more). North Park Beer Co. regularly releases incredible lagers; I had a fresh Munich dunkel there that was absolutely packed with flavor while still being light in body. Burgeon Beer and Green Cheek both make a wide array of gorgeous lagers as well.
Locally, I recently mentioned a Festbier from La Quinta Brewing that I loved, so I’m excited to see what’s coming. Las Palmas has been canning their pilsner, which is yet another great beer from them.
With temperatures already rising, lagers are the shining beacon on the hill of the upcoming summer.
Brett Newton is a certified cicerone (like a sommelier for beer) and homebrewer who has mostly lived in the Coachella Valley since 1988. He can be reached at caesarcervisia@gmail.com.
