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I dont like lager. If I had a pound for every time those words were uttered to me usually at the bar from a dedicated casketeer and once from a fellow judge as we evaluated a flight of British indie lagers Id probably be able to pay my tax on time. Whenever I hear those words I have one response. Which lager dont you like Would it be an earthy and sprightly Czech Pilsner a bready Munchener Helles a robust and muscular Doppelbock or the new wave lagers influenced by American craft brewers made by the likes of Cloudwater or Fourpure And I havent even got round to Marzen Festbier Kellerbier North German Pils or Czech dark and amber lagers yet. The family of lager is a large boisterous one that covers a range of colours from sunlight all the way to the sort of impenetrable darkness in which things go bump in the night. It also comes complete with a full spectrum of flavours and aromas. For me theres a lot to like. Of course most of the lagers sold in the UK are pretty bloodless their popularity seems to depend on the price being right or the kind of cosy familiarity that sees some ale drinkers stick with something like Doom Bar night after night not that theres anything criminal about this conveyor belt approach to drinking. That said there is a growing number of go-ahead breweries producing vividly flavoured lagers that for want of a better word some might want to call craft lager think of the likes of West Camden Town Andwells Adnams Fullers and Thornbridge. The latest I tasted came from Croydon-based Signal whose eponymous Lager has a soft caramel sweetness upfront and an elegant and dry finish. It is rather delicious. This love for lager is about time but I would like to see even more breweries add a Bock or a Marzen or a Helles to their portfolio. The reason for my wish We are currently experiencing the most exciting time in British brewing since the 19th century. Flavour and character are king and experimentation is seen as a key route to acclaim. There are IPAs of all stripes sours saisons wood-aged beers imperial stouts and porters as well as the pub mainstay of golden ales and bitters. But Ive been long of the opinion that anyone who has ever owned a copy of Brewing For Dummies can brew a highly hopped beer reminiscent of a glass of grapefruit juice or kettle sour something and call it Berliner Weiss with added fruit and veg. A surfeit of high-alpha hops can mask a legion of faults I remember thinking the same thing about 10 years ago with strong dark beers this time the alcohol and the chocolaty roast notes providing a shield. On the other hand the brewer of lager has nowhere to hide. For me lager is about a clean flavour a canvas on which the malt and hops paint their own colours. Lager is also about delicacy fine brush strokes the opposite to the loud Jackson Pollock-like splashes of colour we get from many new craft brewed IPAs. Dont get me wrong Im not knocking these beers I love a lot of hops but I also like the subtlety you get with lager and I want British craft brewers to demonstrate that they can do both. After all I have visited US breweries and brewpubs where the house Pilsner or it might be a Dortmunder sits happily away at the bar-top chatting away like a bird with the house IPA or imperial stout. As I wrote this article I happened to pop over onto Twitter as one does and noted a tweet from an independent brewery that is noted for its exemplary highly-hopped and well-flavoured beers. Above a short burst of film of their bottling line with bottles of its newly introduced lager rolling along there were the words This is what is coming off the bottling line today. Are we in bed with the devil Well they do say that the devil has all the best tunes but theology apart Im glad to see another brewery show what it can do with lager. You dont like lager I dont believe you. Adrian Tierney-Jones Adrian Tierney-Jones I DONT LIKE LAGER Adrian Tierney-Jones is a freelance journalist whose work appears in the Daily Telegraph All About Beer Beer Original Gravity Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Publicans Morning Advertiser amongst many others. Hes een writing books since 2002 and they include West Country Ales Great British Pubs Britains Beer Revolution co-written with Roger Protz and the history of the International Brewing Awards Brewing Champions general editor of 1001 Beers To Try Before You Die and contributor to The Oxford Companion to Beer World Beer and 1001 Restaurants You Must Experience Before You Die. Chair of Judges at the World Beer Awards and also on the jury at Brussels Beer Challenge International Beer Challenge and Birra DellAnno. 8 BREWING BEVERAGE INDUSTRIES BUSINESS 8_Layout 1 21042016 1245 Page 1