{"id":464,"date":"2017-06-09T16:10:57","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T20:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/?p=464"},"modified":"2017-06-10T18:33:17","modified_gmt":"2017-06-10T22:33:17","slug":"learning-to-love-lagers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/region\/learning-to-love-lagers\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to love lagers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/IMG_9633.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-465\" src=\"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/IMG_9633-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/IMG_9633-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/IMG_9633-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/06\/IMG_9633-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m willing to bet that your first taste of beer was a lager.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m also willing to bet that when you think of lagers now, you&#8217;re still thinking about that first taste of fizzy yellow beer.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe it&#8217;s time to think again.<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: block; position: relative; max-width: 100%;margin-bottom:20px;\">\r\n<div style=\"padding-top: 56.25%;\">\r\n<video data-video-id=\"5466055003001\"\r\ndata-account=\"1105443290001\" \r\ndata-player=\"N1VVkFril\" \r\ndata-embed=\"default\" \r\ndata-application-id \r\nclass=\"video-js\" \r\ncontrols \r\nstyle=\"width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; right: 0px; left: 0px;\"><\/video>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/players.brightcove.net\/1105443290001\/N1VVkFril_default\/index.min.js\"><\/script><\/div><\/div>\n<p>To many of us, lagers aren&#8217;t as sexy as the ale side of the family &#8212; they&#8217;re not the beefy, barrel-aged stouts or golden-orange IPAs that we stand in line for on release day.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, they&#8217;re generally cleaner than their cousins, and the flavors can be more subtle. But dismissing lagers just because they are lagers is the wrong way to go.<\/p>\n<p>Like hops? Find a German pilsner, like <a href=\"http:\/\/pennbrew.com\/home.aspx\">Penn&#8217;s Kaiser Pils<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/slyfoxbeer.com\/\">Sly Fox&#8217;s Pikeland Pils<\/a>; you&#8217;ll love the sharp, spicy hop bitterness. Appreciate the complexity of a darker beer? A doppelbock, with a mix of roasted and caramel malts &#8212; and a little alcohol heft &#8212; will satisfy that urge. And if you&#8217;re looking for out-there flavors, a rauchbier &#8212; smoked malts give it its barbecue flavor will scratch that itch.<\/p>\n<p>And, as 90-degree weather approaches, the best thing about lagers might be this: It&#8217;s hard to top a clean, cold lager on a hot day.<\/p>\n<p>And here&#8217;s the good part: There are a bunch of well-done lagers to be had right here in the Pittsburgh area, from the old &#8212; Penn&#8217;s original German styles are still among the best out there &#8212; to the new &#8212; a couple visits to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/heliconbrewing\/\">Helicon in Oakdale<\/a> will help you understand brewer Andy Weigel&#8217;s love of lagers. And as I discovered when I visited <a href=\"http:\/\/www.piperspub.com\/\">Hart Johnson at Piper&#8217;s Pub<\/a> to tape this show, there are a bunch more.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m ready for you, summer, just as soon as I stock my beer fridge with the best lagers Pittsburgh has to offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m willing to bet that your first taste of beer was a lager. I&#8217;m also willing to bet that when you think of lagers now, you&#8217;re still thinking about that first taste of fizzy yellow beer. Maybe it&#8217;s time to think again. To many of us, lagers aren&#8217;t as sexy as the ale side of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[62,63],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464\/revisions\/468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/beerme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}