In his newest feature, DC Beer Senior Staff Writer and award-winning Best Business Writing journalist Michael Stein compares and contrasts two beers of the same style. And for the sake of the sheer joy beer can bring, two beers will be opened and sampled at the same time.
Two new collaboration beers from Denizens are nearly identical in color. While not quite private label, both beers are only one batch each thus far. Released into the DC metro market last month, Denizens and four area restaurants in Maryland, DC, and Virginia have worked collaboratively; they all seem equally proud of their lagers.
The beers are both pale lagers. All American Lager is a beer Denizen’s Chief Beer Officer and co-owner Jeff Ramirez brewed with 2Fifty Texas BBQ. Czexican Czech Mexican Lager is a collaboration lager with Republic Cantina, Hill East Burger, and Sloppy Momma’s Barbeque. A bit of sensory–this is compare and contrast after all–before we get into the juicy beer history gems and top secret tidbits only DC Beer knows.
I had a chance to try Czexican Czech Mexican Lager on draft at Denizens with Ramirez, and I have to say this beer on draft is likely the best lager I’ve ever had from Denizens (save maybe Buena Onda, the Vienna-style lager put out some time ago, and Boho Chic, a Czech-style pale lager with floor malted pilsner malt also no longer in existence).
The aromas of All American are different from Czexican. My beverage research firm, Lost Lagers, has received low marks for some of our American lagers for tasting “too European.” All American certainly has an “American” character and I’d be curious to see how it does should Denizens decide to enter this beer into competitions like the Great American Beer Festival or the World Beer Cup. The Adeena hops are noticeable in the nose, and this beer is certainly more fragrant than the standard light/lite beer you had in college. To my senses, Adeena contributes a slightly herbal, mildly spicy flavor with a splash of lemon, the way you’d spritz a cup of tea or a cocktail. Adeena is not quite Hallertau Mittlefrüh, Loral, or East Kent Goldings, but not a far cry from any of these hops.
Czexican has a rounder nose. Whereas All American presents more like a pre prohibition lager, Czexican is similar to Czechvar from Budějovický Budvar or Victoria from Cerveceria Modelo, Mexico. All American is 5.3% ABV and Czexican is 5%.
On the palate All American Lager conveys a sweetness up front and then a bitterness in the mid palate before a dry finish. I think I am perceiving sweetness from the beer’s use of Rahr North Star Pilsner Malt. It is not so sweet that it’s a challenge to drink and certainly the pleasant lingering bitterness and dryness invite barbeque lovers to come back for more.
The more mellow-smelling Czexican also has a sweetness at the front, but somehow not quite as sweet as the All American. It has a bitterness that somehow seems longer but less intense, very much the same way I feel drinking Czechvar pale lager or Cerveza Victoria. There is a definitive bitterness, but it’s not a beat you over the head bitterness, it’s a pleasant, moreish bitterness akin to a slow-and-low cooked over smoldering hardwood barbeque, the polar opposite to the bbq your uncle makes that he swears by despite him not changing the recipe since Jimmy Carter’s administration.
What is Czech about this Mexican lager? Well for starters one of the beer’s collaborators, Chris Svetlik has Czech ancestry. His father is from Hallettsville, Texas, a town whose founders were mainly German and Czech immigrants. Joe Neuman, has in his family an ancestor, Frank Neuman, who brewed first at the Tusch Brothers’ Cincinnati Brewery which was later grouped into a collective of six breweries called the Grand Rapids Brewing Company. Neuman’s relative likely oversaw the production of Stock Lager and Export Pilsener, “Pilsener” often times getting anglicized for the Czech town of Plzeň, the fourth most populous city in Czechia, and perhaps most importantly to the beer world, the birthplace of Pilsner.
Czexican, with its Saaz and Tettnanger hops, is reminiscent of some of the tastiest lagers brewed around the world. There is often a misconception that just because you’re a beer nerd you don’t appreciate old and macro brands like Czechvar or Victoria. This is simply not true, but people will believe what they want.
That being said, this beer takes me back to a time and a place when I first began understanding the difference between Czech and German style pale lagers. The time may have been roughly 2009, and it was in this year that Ramirez began brewing at Iron Hill Maple Shade, New Jersey. Around this time, current Sacred Profane co-owner Michael Fava was brewing at Dock Street, and later Nodding Head. It’s fun to think back to a time 16 years ago when Ramirez was just starting in the industry. DC Brau wouldn’t open for another two years (2011), and DC only had brewpubs, in this case outfits like Capital City, Gordon Biersch, and District ChopHouse. So please go and patronize the places that we are lucky enough to still have in and around our fair city.
Czexican is available at Hill East Burger for $8 a can. You can find it on draft at Republic Cantina for $8 and rotating keg infusions will cost you $9. Sloppy Momma’s BBQ in Arlington, VA, has cans for $5.
All American Lager is available at 2Fifty BBQ and a six pack will run you $13.99.
For the article, I was gifted cans of Czexican by Denizens brewery owners Jeff Ramirez, though only after I bought a can at Sloppy Momma’s. I bought the second-to-last All American Lager six pack at the brewery for $12.99.
