These Minnesota breweries are doing lagers right

“What’s the difference between a lager and a pilsner?” That is a question I am often asked by people eager to learn more about beer.

The answer: There is none; pilsner is a style of lager. It’s fair to say that all pilsners are lagers, but not all lagers are pilsners.

Along with ale, lager is a broad category of beer that encompasses numerous styles. Pilsner, American lager, Oktoberfest and bock are some of the many types of lager. What sets lagers apart from ales is fermentation.

The yeast used to ferment lagers, Saccharomyces pastorianus, is a different species from those used for ales. It works more slowly and at lower temperatures than its counterpart and typically requires a long period of cold aging to complete the process. Lager yeasts are also able to ferment certain sugar molecules that ale yeast cannot.

The process of fermentation from sugar to alcohol is complex and requires many steps. At each stage, yeast produces chemical byproducts that give beer fruity and spicy flavor and aroma. Ale yeast’s higher fermentation temperature promotes the production of these compounds. The colder fermentation of lagers inhibits the production, resulting in beers with a clean profile. The consumption of extra sugars leaves lagers crisp and dry.

Beyond these differences, the full range of malt, hops and other brewing ingredients is available to both ale and lager brewers. Like ales, lagers can be pale to dark, light to creamy rich and malty sweet to bitter. Wherever they land, they always have a recognizable clean, crisp and dry character that sets them apart.

You can’t talk about lagers without discussing Czech pilsner. It’s certainly not the first lager, but it is the one that changed the world. Every pale lager on the planet is descended from the first pilsner, Pilsner Urquell.

There are many good examples of Czech-style pilsner brewed locally. Steel Toe Brewing’s Czech-Style Pils (St. Louis Park) is a good one. It’s everything a Czech pilsner should be: sharp, crisp and dry with an ample bready malt base and prominent perfume/spice hop flavor. Bitterness is high but still allows for a bit of malt sweetness. The medium-full body is substantial, but it still goes out light and dry with lingering floral hops.

As pilsners' popularity spread around the globe, each new locale put their own spin on it. Slopes from BlackStack Brewing (St. Paul) is billed as a French-style pilsner. The brewers utilized French malts, French Strisselspalt hops and a touch of corn. The result is a very crisp, moderately bitter beer with ample peppery and herbal hop flavor. It’s utterly quaffable and at just 4.6% alcohol, you can drink quite a bit of it.

To keep their lagers light and crisp, brewers in different parts of the world supplemented barley with lower-protein grains that were locally available. In the United States, that is often corn. In Asia it’s rice. Tokki from Arbeiter Brewing Co. (Minneapolis) is an example of a Korean rice lager. Think standard American lager with extra oomph. It’s light and spritzy with subtle crackery malt sweetness. Bitterness is modest, but the floral hop flavor is pronounced. This is another low-alcohol, everyday beer.

Dortmunder export is a pale lager style native to the German city of Dortmund. Lupulin Brewing’s (Big Lake) multiple award-winning Dortmunder is a great example. It’s fuller-bodied and maltier than a pilsner, with soft bready malt leading the way. Bitterness and hop flavor are sturdy but still let the malt shine. A bit of sweetness in the middle leads to an off-dry finish with lingering hop spice.

Amber lagers are among my favorite beers, with Vienna lager being near the top. Double Elbow’s Pops Vienna-style lager (Rochester) is an excellent, Americanized take on the style. Double Elbow is a small-scale, lager-focused brewing project of Niko Tonks, former head brewer at Fair State Brewing Cooperative and current head brewer at Little Thistle Brewing in Rochester. For Pops, Tonks uses American malts and hops to create a taut, sharply bitter version of the style. Toasted bread crust malt is at the forefront, but it’s more than balanced by peppery hops. Light sweetness gives way to a very dry finish.

Lagers aren’t just low-alcohol refreshers. There are strong lagers, too. Originally developed by monks to carry them through their Lenten fast, doppelbock carries the nickname “liquid bread.” Lupulin’s Doppelbock is appropriately full-bodied and filling. Rich brown bread and caramel flavors are joined by so much raisin. It’s malty, but not sweet. The finish is off-dry with long-lingering brown bread malt.

Lagers also aren’t all amber and gold. There are black lagers, as well. Two European black lagers, Schwarzbier from Germany and the Czech dark lager Tmavé Pivo, are well represented by local breweries.

Schram Haus Brewery in Chaska has a winner with their schwarzbier Nacht Nacht. This is a light, crisp and clean lager with dark cocoa roastiness. Subtle coffee bean notes sneak in, as well. The roast is enhanced by subtle herbal hops and low bitterness. I can attest that this beer is great with dark-chocolate-covered almonds.

The Czech-style beers from Utepils Brewing (Minneapolis) have been recognized by the Czech embassy as authentic representations of the originals. Their Loonar Eclipse Czech-style dark lager is no exception. Like a Czech pilsner, it’s fuller-bodied, maltier and a bit sweeter than black lagers from other regions. Smooth dark-chocolate roast is joined by underlying brown bread malt. Floral hops stay just below the malt and offer a sharp bitterness that lingers.

There is nothing stopping lager brewers from adding nontraditional ingredients like fruit. Hitachino Nest Yuzu Lager from Kiuchi Brewery in Naka, Japan, is a light and lovely pale lager incorporating the Japanese citrus fruit yuzu. The fruit’s tropical citrus flavor is the star. It’s supported by soft bready malt and subtle floral hops. Bitterness stays low and doesn’t interfere with the fruit.

Porter probably isn’t a style that comes to mind when talking about lagers. But the robust Baltic porter, first brewed in colder Scandinavian and Baltic countries, is just that. Chicago’s Off Color Brewing has a good one with Beer for Power Plays. This inky black brew is rich, creamy and warming. There is plenty of dark-chocolate black malt flavor, but very little of the burnt roast that characterizes many black beers. Moderately sweet with background notes of vanilla and licorice, this is a deliciously complex sipper.

Michael Agnew is a certified cicerone (beer-world version of sommelier) and owner of A Perfect Pint. He conducts private and corporate beer tasting events in the Twin Cities, and can be reached at michael@aperfectpint.net.