Adjunct Lager

Twice per year, the production teams at Austin’s Hold Out and Live Oak breweries get together to brew what they call “the king of tater beers.”

Totally unpretentious, yet challenging to execute with precision... We asked five brewers for their favorite lagers brewed with body-lightening corn or rice.

Josh Pfriem, founder and brewmaster of pFriem Family Brewers, shares tips on how to dial in your mash process and support great foam retention in light, crisp, internationally inspired lagers—including a finishing touch of Tetra hop extract.

Josh Pfriem, founder and brewmaster of pFriem Family Brewers, lays out their approach to hopping Japanese- and Mexican-style lagers, including related flavor considerations for malt, pH, and sulfur content.

Give this one some time. After about three months, you’ll find that the malt and hops are so perfectly integrated that you’ll want to just sit and smell this beer for a while.

Josh Pfriem, cofounder and brewmaster of Oregon’s pFriem Family Brewers, details the thinking and process behind the brewery’s delicate, award-winning lagers inspired by traditions in Mexico, Japan, and beyond.

This extract-based ode to American malt liquor—and to an old friend—gets appropriately large portions of adjuncts and enzyme to boost attenuation. Serve it cold!

In this clip from their video course, Live Oak founder Chip McElroy digs into some lager history to explain why they chose the name Pre-War Pils for their old-fashioned American adjunct lager.

Corn has long held an important place in brewing across the Americas, from chicha in the Andes to Mexican and American adjunct lagers. Today, craft maltsters and brewers are seeking more flavorful heirloom varieties to see how far they can push those flavors.