Palestine Magazine Spring 2022 | Page 23

PALESTINE MAGAZINE | SPRING 2022 | 23
be choosers . The Great Depression was still going on and it forced breweries to turn to lower cost grain like rice and corn . Later war rationing reinforced this practice . Soldiers returning home , however , were missing the tasty beers they were able to get in Europe and little by little demand for more flavorful beers began to grow and a market for foreign beer began to develop . Beer shelf life is rather short , though and by the time these beers made it overseas much of the flavor had been lost or changed ( beer becomes oxidized over time giving it a wet cardboard flavor and green or clear bottles allow light in which turns the hop flavors in beer skunky ).
When homebrewing was legalized in the 1970s , ales were preferred among the new hobbyists as lager brewing was quite a bit more involved , requiring refrigerated fermentation and lengthy conditioning time , making it difficult for most home brewers to attempt . Why wait over a month for a drinkable lager when a tasty ale could be ready to drink in as little as a week ? Besides , these novice brewers already had a bad taste in their mouths from all of the flavorless lagers flooding the market . When these homebrewers started opening their own breweries , beginning a new American age of craft brewing , ale was what was brewing , not lager .
Up until rather recently , aside from the occasional Oktoberfest or Doppelbock , American craft lagers weren ’ t easy to find . Now it ’ s hard to find a craft brewery that doesn ’ t carry at least one lager in their catalog . The old stigma of lager beer being flavorless and mass produced came mainly because craft brewers and craft beer drinkers were trying to distance themselves from the large industrial breweries . Brewing is a science , however , and brewers are scientists . The lager is more involved , requires more testing , conditioning , and patience . Lagers are well suited to the science and engineering-minded brewer . There is nothing like the pleasure and pride of tasting a clean and crisp finished product from your team with no flaws . All of the hard work , scrutiny , and scientific diligence put into making this beer is justified when you see it leave the brewery to be enjoyed by the public .
That Bohemian pilsner I designed was just fantastic . Super clean and medium bodied with a light bready , caramel flavor from the decoction and a brisk herbal hop finish . It was a limited release and was very well received . It also was the last mark I made at Saint Arnold . I left shortly after it was released to open Pint and Barrel . A couple years later I found out Saint Arnold had re-released my recipe as 5 O ’ Clock Pils so of course I went out and bought some . It ’ s no longer available now , sadly , but you know beer puts a smile on my face rather often . Drinking that beer put a little more than just a smile on me , it gave me a glow as well . I was so pleased to have been a part of making that cave beer .
Chris Keller has worked in beer sales for a distributor , as a brewer for Saint Arnold Brewing Co . in Houston , and is the owner of Pint and Barrel Drafthouse in Palestine , Texas .
Pilsner Urquell beer brewing in the beer cellar WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
PALESTINE MAGAZINE | SPRING 2022 | 23