Learning about lager

On Monday the IBD had an evening on Craft Brewed Lager. Though "craft" is not my favourite marketing term, and lager is not my favourite type of beer we do make a lager at work on occasion and I'd sent a case up for the event.

Sadly it was lost in transit so the assembled masses missed out on the brilliantly witty speech I'd written and the AWESOME lager I'd brewed. Well, hearing me speak and drinking my beer anyway.

But there were half dozen 'craft lagers' that had actually managed to arrive. The ingredients varied widely from German malt to English malt, all malt to not all malt, and European hops to English hops. Quality also varied widely with some pleasant enough for a lager and some decidedly unpleasant.

Some interesting things came up in the discussion though:

• One non-craft lager brand takes six days to make
• Another is fermented at 15 degrees C, rising to 20.
• There seem general agreement the long lagering thing is about clarity not taste
• There are two very genetically distinct types of lager yeast 

Then it was on to the networking, which safely back on the ales I may have overdone a bit.

I did pick up more news about a decidedly unrighteous brewery and a certain hop variety that I may get back to at some point though.