Beer of the Week: Local Lager

Earlier this month, I flew across the Atlantic Ocean to embark on a cruise along the Rhine River. It was a dream scenario where I not only had the pleasure of spending four days on a lovely luxury liner called the Riverside Debussy, but also went on beer-centric excursions at every port of call from Amsterdam to Cologne. Each of those adventures was curated and led by a certified beer sommelier. (Ten out of ten, would recommend!) As one would expect, I had plenty of opportunities to taste styles originating from the places we visited, most notably a slew of locally produced altbiers in Düsseldorf. But what added another fun layer to the trip was dropping in at craft-beer bars where I was able to sample European brewers’ takes on beer substyles with roots here in the good old U.S. of A. There were some real hits, particularly in the hazy IPA realm, but to be honest, the majority came up short of matching what our country’s brewers have to offer. Such is to be expected, which made it all the more impressive when I’d sip on something that reminded me of home. It wasn’t but two weeks after setting foot back on San Diego soil that I had the exact opposite experience, wrapping my taste buds around a German-style beer produced in Sorrento Valley. It took me back to Deutschland on the very first sip, and thus, it is this week’s featured beer, Local Lager. The latest creation from New English Brewing, this helles (which translates to “bright” in English) lager is light on the palate, with an intermingling of grains and yeast-borne minerality hanging around following a brisk finish. It’s a simple but craveably lovely session beer that goes down easy, but goes down exclusively at New English’s tasting room, taking the term “local” to a rather extreme level. If you haven’t been to New English in a while, this is a good excuse to drop by and get acquainted with a new beer, and perhaps reacquainted with some old favorites.

So much of what we love is local! Enjoying summers in San Diego, the community at New English and our local teams. So we brought it all together for the newest addition to our beer lineup: Local Lager. A Bavarian-style helles, Local Lager is a quintessential summertime beer. Light and refreshing, brewed with delicate German Noble hops, sipping a pint gives us that summer-vacation feeling even when we’re staying local. Sipping a Local Lager with friends makes it even better! Not only that, but $1 per pint of Local Lager sales goes to sponsor the San Diego Barracudas, our local rugby league team. It’s also sessionable at 5% ABV (alcohol-by-volume), so there’s a lot to love that’s local!”

Simon Lacey, Co-owner, New English Brewing

New English Brewing is located at 11545 Sorrento Valley Road in Sorrento Valley