Lager Fest 2013

Apparently it has been the summer of beer festivals.  I’m not complaining at all.  Last weekend, my friends Jeffrey, Simon and I hit up the first annual Lager Fest 2013!  Like any first annual anything, there were some weird things.  $10 for a plastic cup, with a discount sticker on the bottom.  (Honestly, you aren’t fooling anyone.)  Bracelets for tickets.  The $20 entry got you 10 samples, however, there were 12 LagerFest icons on each bracelet.  Thanks for the two extra samples, almost makes up for the $10 plastic cup.

While I’m not a big fan of the plastic cups, the bracelet for tickets idea was a new and interesting one for me.  You can’t really loose them, which is common with tokens.  You could still “share” by handing over your arm for a buddy to get a sample.  But I’m not sure how it would work for multi-day events.  Plus, having more than one bracelet looks a little funny…

Regardless of “first annual” issues that I’m confident will be smooth out for the “second annual” event next year.  I’m a huge lager fan coming from the East Coast, so I was excited to try some new beers.  For those of you who don’t know:

Lagers are a type of beer that is fermented and conditions at a low temperature.  Pale lagers are also know as bock, pilsners (pils) and marzen, while dark lagers can be called dunkel or schwarzbier.  The storage of cold beer was originally called “lagering” in caves during the medieval period.

Here is what we tried:

• Float by Breakside
• Wild Rice Pils by Buckman Botanical Brewery
• Experimental Batch* by Deschutes
• Discount Double Czech by Elysian
• Pfeifferhorn Lager by Epic
• Pivo Pils by Firestone Walker
• Down 5 Lager by Fort George
• Dark Meddle by Gigantic
• Filbert Lager by Gilgamesh – “Filbert” is Portland-ese for “hazelnut”
• Octoberfest by Heater Allen
• El Comandante by Lompoc
• Lager by Montucky Cold Snacks – My favorite of the Fest!
• Merica by Oakshire
• Dortmunder by Occidental
• Black Lager by Rogue
• Foam by Sierra Nevada
• Downward Spiral by Widmer

What is your favorite lager?

* Seriously, I think it would be a fun job to name beers.  Can’t people be more creative?