The Year of The Lager!!??

Hey, it’s The Year Of The Lager!

No, we just thought that 2022 was going to be The Year Of The Lager, but it’s not, this is. See, it would have been The Year Of The Lager, but COVID screwed things up, like it did in 2020 and 2021. People stayed safe and bought cases of old favorites. No one wanted to be changing beers in the middle of all that. But now it’s The Year Of The Lager for sure.

2019? No, that was going to be The Year Of Pilsner, see, but then hard seltzer stole it from us. And this isn’t just The Year Of Pilsner, it’s The Year Of The Lager! Oh, let me explain, it’s simple: all pilsners are lagers, but not all lagers are pilsners. And something about bottom-fermented, and caves. Get it?

Yeah, definitely The Year Of The Lager. Gonna be Cold-brewed City. Well, cold-matured, you know. Not like ales. Lager’s coming, better lock your doors!

Oh, stop crying, IPAs will still be a thing, for sure, and yeah, kettle sours and pastry stouts, too. What? Yes, all IPAs. Maybe not Cold IPA, and I’m pretty sure that’s really a lager anyway. Sure, gose too, why not? But also? And mainly? It’s The Year Of The Lager!

Why? It’s lager, it’s just better! It’s harder to make, it shows you’re a mature beer drinker, it’s all subtle and such! You’d better get ready for all those Mexican (style) lagers, and pilsners, and craft American lagers, and…you know, lagers. They’re going to be taking over taps everywhere.

Wait, a fad? Don’t be fooled by that claptrap. Lagers are no kind of fad! Lagers have been around for centuries, and that’s no lie. Just ask a German. Or a Czech, or a Pole, or anyone from St. Louis. Hell, ask Dick Yuengling, he knows all about Lager, he named his beer Lager.

No, it’s not The Year Of Yuengling Lager. I think that was 2007. And anyway, that’s not craft lager.

Oh, okay. I guess it is craft lager, since it’s traditionally brewed with corn, and has been for…well, at least 80 years. And it’s definitely an independent brewery. Dick owns it, and he’s one of the most independent people I know.

Is it The Year Of The Craft Lager? What the hell kind of question is that? If it’s not craft lager, who cares?

The Germans and the Czechs and the Poles do? Well, you got me there, fair point. So I guess we’re saying it’s The Year Of The Lager in America. And maybe Canada? Sure, why not, Canada too. But not Europe, it’s always The Year Of The Lager there.

Why? Well, because that’s what they drink all the time! Pilsner! And…those other lagers. What other lagers? You know…uh…Bock! Yeah, bock, the billy goat beer. Oh, and helles! Man, that’s real lager, buddy, the lagerest.

Excuse me? Did I hear you right? Did you just ask about…Budweiser? And Corona? Are they – Yes, okay, they are lagers, technically. But –

What do I mean by “technically”? I mean, they’re mashed and such, and they ferment with a lager yeast, and go through a cold aging period, but they use corn, and rice! So does Yuengling? Yeah, but it’s made by an indie brewery in an old coal town, and it’s amber colored.

What’s that got to do with Bud Light? That’s a different kind of lager! What kind? The kind that’s always been around! That’s why the whole craft beer thing started, because of beer like that. It can’t be part of The Year Of The Lager if it’s always been there!

If it’s always been there, saying it’s The Year Of The Lager is like declaring The Year Of The Hamburger? No, that can’t be right. I’m always telling people they should drink more lager.

Hey, that’s a good idea. I like that. Instead of telling other people what to do…let’s you and me just drink more lager. Because they’re good, and yeah, okay, they’ve always been there: in Europe, and here in America. And there have always been craft lagers: Victory, Gordon Biersch, Capital, Jack’s Abby, Pfriem.

How about we say it’s The Year Of Learning About Lager? Find more lagers, and you brewers, make more lagers – like Italian and French pilsners, helles, Vienna, granát, bock, doppelbock, rauchbock, maibock, tmavé, Baltic porter, schwarzbier, dunkles, and Dortmunder Export – and taste the differences. Make new differences, like you do with everything else. Except maybe not the whole ‘look, we used a different hop!’ thing.

Be the change you want to see in the world. Drink lager, and stop worrying about whether anyone else is.

Lew Bryson is the Senior Drinks Writer at The Daily Beast. Contributor to Bourbon+, Craft Spirits Magazine.

 Author of Whiskey Master Class, Harvard Common Press (2/18/2020 release); “To enhance your knowledge in the magical world of distilling, my friend Lew Bryson is the perfect place to start.” — Colum Egan, Bushmills master distiller

Another great whiskey book I wrote: Tasting Whiskey, Storey Publishing; “Tasting Whiskey is a book that I would have loved to have had close at hand when I first started getting into whiskey.” — David Wondrich, author of Imbibe and Punch