Lagers get a bad rap, but these 4 local breweries are serving up some well worth the visit

Thankfully, we’re experiencing a sea change in terms of customer preference. Lagers have stopped becoming a shunned category, and several local breweries are leading the charge.

But first, what make a lager, well, a lager? An oversimplified explanation has to do with the yeast brewers use to ferment their beers. Lager yeast is bottom-fermenting and thrives in lower temperatures, while ale yeast counterparts are top-fermenting and prefer warmer temperatures.

Opportunity cost might be the primary reason why smaller craft breweries prefer ales to lagers: ale fermentations are largely capable of wrapping up in two or three weeks, while lagers require around six weeks to properly finish out. For outfits dependent on volume, choosing between these disparate frames is almost a no-brainer.

In terms of domestic sales, the highest-selling brands are American Light Lagers (Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite), but to assume all lagers have a similar flavor profile is a gross generalization.

So, while craft breweries nationwide have finally begun to embrace all things bottom-fermenting, let’s take a brief look at some of the best locally-lagered options.

(1) Sycamore Brewing

2161 Hawkins St.

Back in 2015, Sycamore Brewing had been open but a year when they took home a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival. The category was an eye-raiser: American-Style Lager, with Coors Banquet ultimately hauling away the gold. But the flavor gulf between gold and bronze couldn’t be wider: Southern Girl was touted as being made with heirloom Scottish malt for a richer, more-interesting sip.

In 2017, lightning struck twice more, as a pair of bronze medals went to Sycamore’s Sun Grown Fresh Craft Lager. Don’t let the name fool you; this is the same lager recipe they won with just two years previously, just with a new name. Naysayers dismissing that first win as a fluke were rightfully silenced, as these three bronzes joined a silver from the NY International Beer Competition.

(2) Olde Mecklenburg Brewery

4150 Yancey Road

Considering the concept of lagering a beer hails from Germany, it’s no surprise to find that this Charlotte brewery dedicated to all styles Germanic is loaded to the gills with examples of lagers. Heck, even their flagship Copper undergoes a lagering period before it’s kegged.

Captain Jack Pilsner is a well-known standard for the LoSo outfit, and has many other bottom-fermenting compatriots in OMB’s roster: Mecktoberfest, Bauern Bock, Dunkel, Yule Bock, Fruh Bock, and Fat Boy Baltic Porter.

Convinced that lagers are fizzy yellow affairs? The rich flavors of Fat Boy beg to differ, carrying notes of dark fruit and chocolate. This year-round offering took home a gold medal at the 2017 European Beer Star competition (with Mecktoberfest similarly earning gold there in 2015), so even the Germans themselves agree that OMB knows a thing or two about lager production.

(3) Triple C Brewing Co.

2900 Griffith St.

Any craft beer drinker should be familiar with India Pale Ales, but have you tried an India Pale Lager? It took Triple C Brewing over five years to make a production batch, so if you haven’t experienced the hop-forward yet smooth-finishing traits of IPLs, you’re not alone.

Grab Ya By The Guava, a collaborative effort with the Common Market, wasn’t the first lager attempt from the veteran outfit; several small-batches had previously poured in Triple C’s tap room, but this was the first production-system-sized lager to be canned and see outside distribution.

(4) Resident Culture

2101 Central Ave.

Charlotte’s newest brewery might have earned quite a reputation for their hazy IPAs and spontaneously-fermented wild ales, but to any taproom patron who’s overlooked their Pilsner offerings despite seeing it on the menu board: you messed up.

Re-Up, an unfiltered kellerbier, tantalized the taste buds of the opening-day crowd with its delicate crispness. Several weeks later, the remarkably-consistent second batch rolled out to similar high marks. More recently, PJ Party pilsner notably eschewed European-originating hop varieties for the New Zealand-grown Pacific Jade varietal, putting an interesting finish on an oftentimes staid style.

Photo: Chris Rodarte, Sycamore Brewing