19 articles in this category
A collaboration with Triptych of Savoy, Illinois, this amber lager from Chicago’s Goldfinger brings Midwestern flavor via Minnesota wild rice, Wisconsin hops, and a yeast strain resurrected from a 19th-century Wisconsin brewery.
Besides sanitation, success here depends on two things: slightly chloride-forward water to round out the malt, and great attenuation for a light, dry finish.
Whether you’re the type who appreciates a real technical challenge—or just the type who appreciates something easygoing and ice-cold on a hot day—light lager has plenty to offer the ambitious (and thirsty) brewer.
In the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, Goldfinger has built a strong national reputation for its lagers. This one is inspired by the German zoigl tradition but makes use of American ingredients, including corn and whole-leaf Mt. Hood hops.
The flagship beer from Wiseacre in Memphis, Tennessee, Tiny Bomb is a svelte, session-strength American lager with the full flavor of a German pilsner.
“Brewed as an ode to the sun,” this light, crisp, subtly sweet Mexican-inspired lager from Peaceful Side in Maryville, Tennessee, won the gold medal for International Light Lager at the 2025 World Beer Cup.
Seth Carter, head brewer at Peaceful Side in Maryville, Tennessee, cites the key factors that helped their Solveza lager win gold at the 2025 World Beer Cup—and it begins with a team-wide approach to quality.
Based on details shared by the former lead brewer at Peoples Brewing in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, this mid-20th century American bock gets its color from a darker caramel Munich malt—not from the syrups that were common in dark adjunct lagers from that time.
Twentieth-century U.S. lager breweries would often use colorants—such as a malt-based product called Porterine—to give their pale beers a darker or even porter-like appearance. Here’s how to make your own.
American brewers have been producing an industrial riff on bock for more than 150 years—light in strength but dark in color, usually made with corn as well as dark syrups. How might craft brewers reinterpret this tradition, based on the ingredients they have today?
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.