Lager: Last Call in our 6 part Series on BEER.

The last splash in our Spring 2020 series on BEER. But we’re doing so in style with a collaboration with The 101 Brewhouse & Distillery. Like the title says:

Lager: “to store”

For a beer whose personality I’ve always found fairly straight forward, researching the matter was agonizingly difficult. When looking up info on the web, you need to be quite specific with your questions or you find yourself sent in the wrong direction. And making mistakes on the topic has the potential to open a can of worms being as beer lovers are oft times highly passionate on the subject.

Is it top fermented or bottom fermented? Both but with many variables
does it use Saccharomyces pastorianus yeast or Saccharomyces cerevisiae (blah blah blah),
cold or warm fermentation; German = Cold/ American can be warm but both use cold storage to age
Who made the first lager: Anton Dreher with Vienna Lager in 1841. Hmmm, how’s that when the current German recipe can be dated to the 1500’s?
What’s the oldest lager? Dunkel with a dark lager dating back to 1040. Again; hmmm…
Another site I looked at said Pils in the Czech Republic was the first lager but no, that’s the home of Pilsner and the brewery for whom Budweiser “borrowed” their name.

So below is my answer with the help of The 101.

*A little creative license was taken with these images as “Bob’s Auto*“,*the* *previous* *resident of the 101’s address was in fact a Shell station. But “Bob” lent his name to the soon to be featured beer so…*

The 101 Coles Notes (my term, not theirs):

Lager is any beer that’s fermented with a lager yeast. They ferment at cool temperatures and produce a flavour profile that can be described as clean and malty.
German lager can be light/ dark/ hoppy/strong
What differentiates German style lager from the more typical American counterparts is German lagers are made entirely from malt (classically barley) without the addition or substitution of rice, corn or sugar.

Now before we get into the above image, Bob’s Auto Lager, here’s a little piece of trivia about the 101 Highway:

The world’s longest highway, the Pan-American (also named Highway 101 in parts of the United States and Canada), stretches 9,312 miles (15020 km) from Castro on Chile’s south coast to Lund on BC’s Sunshine Coast.

Bob’s Auto Lager is what would be described as “Munich Helles”. Hell in German translates to mean “light”. Made mostly with Pilsner malt, the lightest grade of malt, there’s a small amount of Munich malt added to give the suggestion of lightly toasted bread. Bravo Hops are used to add a slightly bitter component offsetting the sweetness from the malt. Malt was said many times in that statement but that’s just how it is.

Hand Sanitizer

This is in brief recognition of The 101 as well as Bruinwood Estate Distillery and One Foot Crow Craft Distillery re-purposing their facilities during the pandemic. They helped supply their community and others with desperately needed hand sanitizer. Coast Culinary Collective thanks you.

Chicken, White Bean & Corn Chili

Anna Olson (it’s a solid recipe)

In discussion with Sonia Martinez, the new Production Manager and Head Distiller at The 101, we tossed around a few casual summer dishes that would be a good pairing with Bobs Auto Lager. This is the one we decided on.

(Pay attention to future happenings at The 101. Sonia has some very cool ideas…)

Ingredients

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 medium onions, diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 lb(s) ground chicken

2 clove garlic, minced

2 Tbsp molasses

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 12-oz beer

1 28 oz/796 mL tin crushed tomatoes

1 6.8 oz/193 mL tin sliced jalapeno peppers, drained

1 19 oz/540 mL tin white kidney beans, drained

1 ½ cup frozen or fresh corn kernels

juice of 1 lime

salt and pepper

hot sauce, shredded cheese and sour cream, to serve

Method

1. Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the oil. Add the onion, carrot and pepper and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the ground chicken and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until very little pink is visible. Stir in the garlic, molasses, chili powder and cumin, then add the beer, crushed tomato and jalapenos. Bring this up to a gentle simmer, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Stir the beans and corn, cover and simmer 10 minutes more. Add the lime juice and season to taste. Serve the chili with hot sauce to taste, cheese and sour cream.

Thus concludes this 6 parter on BEER. We’ll likely revisit the topic again in the Fall. Keep checking back.