Apparently, today is National Lager Day. Let’s celebrate National Lager Day. Why the hell not. Of course, if you’re old enough, you remember when everyday was National Lager Day in the U.S. Because that was the only choice you had. Times have changed. Ales are everywhere. The difference between ales and lagers? In a nutshell, an ale is brewed with top-fermenting yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and lager with bottom-fermenting yeast (Saccharomyces uvarum). Ales tend to be darker, have a cloudier appearance, higher alcohol content and a stronger, fruitier, more robust flavor with stronger bitter tones from the hops due to the higher number of hops, faster, more thorough fermentation. Lagers tend toward a lighter, clear appearance, have a lower alcohol content and a sweeter, smoother, crisp flavor from the higher sugar content, slower fermentation and cold treatment. Anyway, it’s National Lager Day so Peaks & Pints has constructed a lager flight we call Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Lager Day.
Peaks and Pints Beer Flight: Lager Day
Seapine Light Lager
3.8% ABV
Seapine Brewing’s Light Lager grabbed gold at the 2023 Washington Beer Awards and 2024 Great American Beer Festival. Very light and with a bone-dry finish, their Light Lager is brewed with only only two-row malt in the grist and mild noble hop accents
Otherlands Night Mayor
4.9% ABV
Otherlands Beer has brought back their Night Mayor Czech dark lager. Despite its dark and foreboding appearance this classic “tmavé pivo” or “černé pivo” (depending on how dark you really think it is) boasts a smooth, malty body, crisp herbal hop bitterness, and just a touch of roast.
Chuckanut Pilsner
5% ABV
In the early 1980s, chemical engineer and homebrewer Will Kemper paid a visit to the brewmaster of the now-defunct Rainier Brewery in Seattle where he was told he couldn’t open a brewery because he wasn’t born into it. Good one. In 1984, Kemper, his wife, Mari, and Andy Thomas opened Thomas Kemper Brewery in Poulsbo, Washington. In 1992, Thomas Kemper merged with Hart Brewing, which went on to be Pyramid Breweries. The Kempers saw the ugly side of the business and became consultants with East Coast and international breweries. After a bunch of traveling, they moved back to Bellingham where they opened Chuckanut Brewery in 2008 — a convergence of technical and engineering concepts developed from more than two decades of professional involvement with craft brewing both home and abroad. They hired Josh Pfriem as their head brewer, who went on to open pFriem Family Brewers in Hood Rover, Oregon. Following their passion for German pilsners, the Kempers brewed their own golden, vivid, crisp version with Pilsner malt and secret noble hops. They transferred their multiple award-winning pilsner production from their Bellingham brewery to their 40-barrel production facility in Mount Vernon.
Wayfinder Funeral Bock
7% ABV
A traditional German bock is laced with history. The dark lager, dating back to the Medieval era, was originally brewed in the northern town of Einbeck, Germany, during the 14th century. When the bock traveled south to the city of Munich during the 17th century, the subtle differences in language meant that Bavarians started to mispronounce the beer from Einbeck as ein bock. That word in German literally translates to billy goat. The name stuck, and so did the image of the animal, which you’ll still find on many bock labels. Wayfinder Beer’s Funeral Bock is a double-decocted black bock brewed strongly with Münich and Roast malts and fermented extremely cold with Wayfinder’s secret heritage lager yeast and finished with an excessive, hibernative lagering schedule.
Obec Czech Christmas Lager
7.7% ABV
A Czech amber lager is a malty, amber-colored lager originating from the Czech Republic, characterized by a deep amber to copper color, a prominent malt flavor with notes ranging from bready to slightly caramelly, and a hop character that can vary from low to moderately significant; in Czech, it’s called “polotmavé pivo,” which translates to “half dark” beer. Obec Brewing’s Czech Christmas Lager is lightly spiced with traditional winter spices — cardamom, clove, cinnamon, grains of paradise, juniper berries, and fresh orange peel.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
