Lager Lovin' 

click to enlarge

• Mike Riedel

Bohemian - Nala's Lager: Annually, Bohemian Brewing and Salt City HomeBrew Supply team up to hold Utah's only all-lager home-brew competition. The best in show beer and its creator are rewarded by getting a limited, but full-blown, professionally-made version of their beer for sale in a custom-designed can. Last year's lager winner came from the mind of homebrewer Chaz Smith; his special pale lager was brewed utilizing unmalted rye, wheat, spalt and barley, and also featured honey and Laurel hops.

It pours a huge fluffy three-finger head that sticks around forever; I have to suck some of it down to even start nosing and tasting. It brings a soft rye bite right away, and a light bready aroma due to the rye and light malts, I think. Hops are not very bright but fairly floral. The Laurel hops pop right out with plenty of lemongrass and hay-like grassiness.

Like the aroma, the taste starts with light rye and a light bready quality, but not overwhelmingly so. Light, clean, malty flavor comes through with the rye, and even a light rye bitterness. Then come the hops on the march, fairly bitter but with a nice big hop flavor, surprisingly strong considering that the brew is just a few months old now. Again, Laurel dominates a bit, with an initial, nice big lemon/orange flavor with grassy floral hops. Also in there, a light grapefruit essence kick on the back end. On the finish, it gets quite bitter, as that dry crisp lager comes through and pulls everything out of the beer except the hops and rye. The finish is very clean with medium bitterness.

Overall: The rye plays well with the light, clean but slightly bready malts, and the crisp lager finish brings it all out. It's a well-executed beer that I could have a few pints of, with a nice dry finish to round it off.

Squatters - El Cobre: Squatters' head brewer Jason Stock told me that, during a recent trip to Mexico, he was inspired by some local lagers he enjoyed in a small beach community just north of Cancun. Enamored with the brew, he immediately came home to attempt to duplicate it, so that we could all share in the love.

Cobre (copper) does indeed have a wonderfully clear, copper color, and a huge, fluffy three-finger head that sticks around forever. Rich, toasted bread and toasted nuts are the primary aromatics; a sweet breadiness like pretzels lays just beyond the toasted notes, adding further richness. Finally, spicy, floral, perfumey hops show up at the party.

While the taste follows up on the aroma very thoroughly, it still remains restrained with rich, bready malts, toast, almond paste, walnut and pretzel, all working perfectly in concert with earthy, spicy hops and just a hint of floral qualities. The aftertaste has that biscuity, sugar-cookie richness that only comes from lager brewers who really know their stuff.

Overall: Doing a copper lager and making it a mainstay in the Squatters lineup should be a no-brainer in the current hazy IPA-heavy craft beer scene, but when you do it this well, it doesn't really matter what the masses are clamoring for. This is beautiful, subtle, complex, crushable, savorable and everything else a truly great beer should be. Salt Lake City is lucky to have such an amazing brewer, and they should really be hyping this stuff up a lot more.

Squatters' El Cobre is on draft only, and I found that it worked well with many morsels—chile verde specifically, but also sushi and a catfish po-boy. Nala's Lager comes in 12-oz. cans and at 5.0 percent ABV is also available on draft at the brewery. As always, cheers!