ture up to three distinct lagers on tap at any one time. At Alvarado Street Brewery locations, for example, a recent menu offered a traditional pilsner, a hoppier West Coast version and the venerable Monterey Beer, based upon a 1930s recipe. Toward the end of March, Other Brother Beer Co. in Seaside was pouring one brewed from jasmine rice, another that was dry-hopped—known as the Italian pilsner method—and the straightforward Seaside Lager. In addition to a standard American-style light lager, Peter B’s prepared a German pilsner. And Mika had a Mexican-style made in part from corn in the fermentation tank. “You can showcase the hop and the grain’s character, not influenced by yeast,” she explains. So Mika can highlight the natural sweetness of corn without losing the crisp effervescence of traditional versions. Vitalich brewed a light and a dark lager, as well as Pils Del Mar, which he describes as a Czech pilsner “with an American twist.” The latter is now a regular in the otherwise varying Hidden Hills lineup. “It’s become our mainstay because it’s so popular,” he points out. It is in such demand, in fact, that Vitalich imported a proper tap from the Czech Republic to present the thick, dazzling head of Bohemian brews. Lagers and pilsners are native to the Bavarian region of Germany and the Bohemian northwest of the Czech Republic. The names refer on the one hand to lagering, or cool temperature cave fermentation, and on the other to the Czech city of Plzen. What first set the style apart from other beers was the storage temperature and the use of yeast that sinks to the bottom for fermentation, leaving a crisper and clear product. With no murky sediment, brewers could pour lagers with confidence into clear mugs to show off the golden hue—or the heady pitch of dark versions. Lagers came to the U.S. with waves of German immigrants in the 1830s. Research by Gregory Casey published in the Master Brewers Association of America’s Technical Quarterly— “The Inspiring and Surprising History and Legacy of American Lager Beer”— shows that as beer consumption increased in the U.S. after the introduction of lager, the nation’s dependence on spirits waned. In 1840 Americans downed 2.5 gallons of the hard stuff per capita. By the end of the century that figure had fallen to 1.2 gallons. As Casey put it, “David (i.e., lager beer) had truly slain the American Goliath of hard liquor in a remarkable transformation of a nation from one of hard liquor drinkers to one that loved beer.” So it’s not the first time lager has won over a reluctant crowd. Craft brewers are realizing that within the rules of lager beers—Bavarian purity laws governing ingredients, or Reinheitsgebot, were first laid down in 1516—are extensive opportunities to play. The clean character of the style welcomes the nuances of different malts and hops. “People are making interesting things,” Mika says, specifically pointing to the hoppier West Coast “IPL,” in other words India Pale Lager. “I’m so glad we are all embracing this.” Daybreak—the dark lager at Hidden Hills—trades on the version made famous by the legendary Prague pub U Fleku. There is a rich malt and inviting toasty notes. But this is underscored by a bitter streak of coffee, again without disrupting the smooth ease of the style. “It looks like a stout, but drinks like a lager,” Vitalich observes. He also notes that brewers are just as often interested in researching and applying the recipes and techniques from hundreds of years ago. Other Brother’s Seaside Lager is a nod to the classic helles-style, a German brew pale in hue with wistful floral highlights and a tingle of spice. It’s a fresh, lean beer that finishes with a quick, clean snap offering a hint of citrus and waving grain. “Lagers are lower in alcohol,” Peter B’s Mika explains. They are at home in the built outdoors—ballparks, fairs, events. “Everybody loves a lager beer.” Alvarado Street brewed a version labeled Kind Folk specifically for the Rebels & Renegades music festival in 2023. It swayed between a clean, dry snap of wheat chaff and the warm embrace of crusty bread, with a little bite of orange zest, which settles into a soft, peppery finish that lingers on the palate—a light session beer with connoisseur appeal. While IPAs, sours and others remain popular among craft beer enthusiasts, whether brewers or consumers, lagers are the beer of the moment, embraced for their crisp, clean, yet evocative qualities. “If you pay attention to temperatures and your mashing schedule, you can create a lager that gives you the experience of sitting in a small pub in the Czech Republic,” Vitalich says. 40 THE BEST OF MONTEREY BAY ® EAT + DRINK 2024-2025 Alvarado Street Brewery lagers.indd 2 4/18/24 4:07 PM
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