Will Hawkes
LAGER has taken a kicking in recent years. The king of the British bar-top has found itself under constant attack as craft beer advances on all fronts.
“Macroswill”, “yellow fizz”, “cooking lager”: these are some of the nicer things the craft crowd have had to say about Britain’s favourite pint. It seems the message is getting through.
Lager sales are falling through the floor as drinkers turn to low-ABV and craft options. Carlsberg is down 11%, Beck’s 26% and Carling 3%. It looks like curtains – but I’m not sure it is. The battle may have been lost but lager is going to win the war. Why? Because it’s delicious and, crucially, easy-drinking.
The diversity of craft beer is wonderful – I love Burning Sky and The Kernel as much as the next middleaged, middle-class man – and I drink more than my fair share of great cask ales like Harvey’s. But there is no beer in the world that goes down better than good lager, the perfect pub pint.
I’m not talking about Carling or Peroni (a triumph of marketing that often costs more than craft beers) but proper lager, the kind you find in its native lands, Bavaria and Bohemia.
Lager there is truly delicious and diverse: it can be golden, like our lagers, amber or even black. It can be cloudy or clear as a bell. It can be fizzy or as softly textured as a cask ale. It can taste rich, sweet, toasty, smoked or bitter and much more. It’s served in large glasses or, even better, steinkrugs, stoneware mugs.
Let’s be honest – our lagers, served in Nonic glasses with half a centimetre of apologetic foam, have never been that appealing. But now they’re starting to be. A new generation of brewers, inspired by craft beer but turned off by hop-heavy ales, are brewing great lagers in the central European tradition. I’m talking about Lost & Grounded, whose Keller Pils is Bavaria in a Bristolian glass, or Donzoko, the Hartlepool outfit turning out delicious pale lager.
Then there’s Braybrooke, whose superb amber Kellerbier is inspired by Franconia, Bavaria’s northern third, or Thornbridge, a brewery famous for its delicious hoppy pale ales but whose best beer is Lukas – a Helles, the style beloved in Munich.
Even Carlsberg changed their recipe earlier this year to attract some of the craft custom. And one of the most popular “craft” beers, Camden Hells, is a lager. They’ve recently built a huge new brewery in Enfield, North London, to keep up with demand.
The message is clear: drinkers still want lager, they just want it tastier. Hopheads should enjoy it while they can. Lager is on the way back and it’s better than ever.