4th of July beer, pt. I

July 1, 6:56 PMSF Craft Beer ExaminerBrian Yaeger

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     Old Glory: PBR

While America didn’t invent beer, it sure is augmenting it. When the word “American” appears in the style, you know the beer in question will be big, bold, brash, brawny, and brazen; that’s the American way.

This Saturday as we celebrate Independence Day, bring the perfect accoutrement to your BBQ. Today is the first in a three-day/part series to find the perfect beers to pair with grilled burgers, dogs, steaks, chops, or—for the Vegetarian-Americans out there—grilled vegetables.

Today’s style: Lagers.

Lagers are themselves something of a revolutionary beer. Whereas the Pilgrims and earliest settlers on American soil only drank ales, which are brewed at warmer temperatures where top-fermenting yeast performs its fermenting magic, lagers came to the new world with the wave of German, Czech, and Austrian immigration in the late 19^th-century. These bottom-fermenting beers brewed at colder temperatures are crisper, lighter, and clearly appealed to more Americans celebrating our first centennial as they do today, considering American Light Lagers constitute roughly 80% of our annual beer consumption.

1. Pabst Blue Ribbon. Why go for that other beer in the red, white, and blue cans when it’s now owned by a Belgian-based company instead of one in St. Louis? Even if that company now makes something called American Ale, blue collar and hipster types can feel proud to drink American-owned PBR in the red, white, and blue cans—these colors don’t bleed, not even when left in an ice chest.

2. Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Any beer named after a dude who signed the Declaration of Independence deserves to be at a 4th of July BBQ. (If some crafty brewer was smart, they’d brew a Stephen HOPkins or Francis HOPkinson IPA--Independence Pale Ale.) Until such time, this indie brewery still fits the theme.

3. Shmaltz Coney Island Lager. Not many craft breweries proffer lagers, but the makers of He’Brew put out an entire line of ale-inspired lagers. And instead of bottling them in those dainty 12-ouncers, Coney Island Lagers only come in 22-ounce bombers (insert crotch-grab here). A beer that celebrates the freaks in a freak show? One needs only turn on any one of our reality shows to realize we love to get our freak on.

Come back tomorrow for more 4^th of July recommendations.