After the popularity of our amber and golden lagers in the fall and winter (Festbier and Dunkel), our horizontal tanks have been busy maturing the next wave of malt forward lagers. You know, if we’re calling resting in complete stillness for 6-8 weeks “busy.”
Spring Bock
First up is our Spring Bock, releasing by the end of next week! Inspired by the empty hole in our hearts as we wait for the ‘24 Festbier release this fall, we needed something to scratch the itch of a malty, slightly meatier lager. Single decoction mashed and brewed with 50% Pilsner malt, the remaining 50% is a blend of Maris Otter, Munich, Vienna, and a touch of our new favorite dark crystal malt that does a beautiful job adding color without overly caramelly traits. While not noteworthy enough for the beer description, we’ll know you read the blog if you’re aware we also added just a tiny 1% of beechwood smoked malt for rustic nuance and differentiation from our other recipes. We have to say we’re in love with the results. It’s not smoky, it’s just got its own thing going on. Hopped with pretty large portions of Perle for balance, a nod to our Festbier recipe. With all this flavor, we still did what we could to ferment it out as dry as possible to keep it from being sweet, and kept gravity and ABV to a fairly approachable 6.5%. All in all, this beer is a great malt delivery system that respects the importance of drinkability. It’s one of our few deviations from traditional European lager styles, this one is just raw recipe development to make something we want to drink.
Czech Polotmavý
Next up in late February is our Czech polotmavý, or as they call it, “half dark”. Painstakingly triple decoction mashed for five hours with Czech pilsner malt and hopped like a Czech pilsner with Saaz and Kazbek, it also includes a dash of Munich malt and a moderate amount of dark crystal malt to turn it into an amber lager with a really special balance to it. While it mostly comes across as a nice little amber lager for consumption in the mid 4’s ABV, the blended nuance of decoctions, crystal malt, earthy spicy hops, and the dark magic of horizontal tank maturation is one of a kind.
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
It was always our mission to provide unique beers to our customers that they may never have tried and definitely can’t buy in a grocery store, but without going over the top and keeping things lower ABV and highly drinkable. Our springtime lagers are both great examples of that. Not sure what to think? Ask the bartenders for a taste next time you’re in the taproom. You’ll never know until you try it!
