Heater Allen Coastal -- Beer of the Week

by Joshua M. Bernstein, Posted Feb 22nd 2011 @ 3:00PM

When it comes to craft beer, "lager" might as well be a four-letter word. Rebelling against Coors and their watery kind, microbrew drinkers gravitate toward bold, super-bitter IPAs and potent imperial stouts aged in bourbon barrels. In turn, the crisp, elegant lager has been discarded like dishwater.

I also fell into that camp. Why sip a simple lager when a battalion of crazily flavored craft beer awaited my mouth? Give me hops, or give me death! On my recent trip to Portland, Oregon, plenty of hoppy brews tickled my taste buds. But I also found a lager that made me appreciate the unfairly maligned style.

The swoon-worthy beer was crafted by McMinnville, Oregon's Heater Allen Brewing, the hop-crazed state's only all-lager brewery. "If there hadn't been this huge hole in Oregon, I wouldn't have tried to launch the brewery," owner and brewer Rick Allen told me when I was researching my beer book. I heard rave reviews about his lagers, including the dark, slightly smoky Scwarz; crisp, golden Pils; and the malty Dunkel. But hadn't tried any Heater beers till last week, when I cracked the bottle of Coastal I'd brought back to Brooklyn.

Coastal is a curious bird. Allen calls this creation a "Northwest amber lager," which is a made-up appelation for a stylistic mash-up. Coastal began life as a California common, which is a uniquely American lager that's fermented at warmer temperatures (Anchor Steam is a classic example), which imparts a subtle fruitiness. Then Allen started fermenting at cooler temperatures, making it more like a standard lager -- except for the heap of Cascade and Horizon hops.

The result of all that tweaking is a copper-amber elixir with a nose of toast, malt and a bit of pine. Coastal goes down smooth and tangy, with a sweet bitterness (5 percent ABV, 36 IBUs), bready character and carbonation that snaps, crackles and pops on the palate. It closes with a zingy bite that keeps you coming back for more.

Lager, I'll be seeing you again sooner rather than later.

What lagers do you love? Spill it in the comments.

Joshua M. Bernstein has written about brews, bars and booze for New York Magazine, Time Out New York, Imbibe Magazine and The New York Times. His beer book, Brewed Awakening, will be published by Sterling this fall. Follow him on Twitter @JoshMBernstein.

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Filed Under: Drinks
Tags: beer, featured, Heater Allen Brewing, Oregon beer