A nod to the past with an eye of the future
“We decided to use Lórien in a new bottled American Lager project because we believe there’s some room for innovation in that style of beer and there are no better or more passionate and skilled innovators than the team at Indie Hops. For decades, the American Lager formula has been to use nameless, bland commodity malt with a chunk of rice or corn thrown in and a high alpha, flavorless bittering hop used to balance the sweet malt/adjunct combination. With the craft malting revolution has come gorgeous flavor that is easy to access; there’s no absolute need for rice or corn to balance out the harshness of America’s old barley varieties,” states John Marti, Head Brewer and Co-founder at Douglas Lager.
“We crave a sessionable beer that harkens back to the days of old but has subtle hints of actual flavor; this is why we chose Lórien and locally grown Baronesse Pilsner from LINC Malt in Eastern Washington… they have beautiful flavors and aromas that never pack so much of an intense punch that it’s too much to continue drinking.
“We love Lórien because it seamlessly combines some of the traditional European lager aromas into the more modern American hops aromas, specifically the American Sprite-like (lemon-lime) aroma into the traditional bouquet of herbs that European lager hops are so renowned for. We are smitten with European lager hops and when we want that flavor profile, we have historically been able to acquire them without too many issues but we see the writing on the wall, climate change is happening fast and Europe is stacking up some dry and harsh growing seasons back to back.
“We believe in the team at Indie in that they’ve created an ingredient that can thrive and not be so harsh on the land/farmer from which it comes… other than Lorien’s flavor profile, this is a big reason we chose to work with Lórien. Plus, we love its low Alpha Acid content. Most European hops we use are between 1.5% to 4.5%. It was a gutsy move to breed a low alpha hop in today’s IPA wars… it means that they truly are fans of beer. This gives us the ability to create a smooth bitterness while actually giving the beer some hop flavor and aroma; something high alpha hops can’t do in small, less bitter beers.”
“We believe in the team at Indie in that they’ve created an ingredient that can thrive and not be so harsh on the land/farmer from which it comes… other than Lorien’s flavor profile, this is a big reason we chose to work with Lórien."
JOHN MARTI , HEAD BREWER & CO-FOUNDER @ DOUGLAS LAGER
Since its launch in 2023, Douglas has been steadily and purposefully growing a list of fans throughout Cascadia (Washington,Oregon, Idaho, Vancouver BC and California). Still a relatively new brand, Douglas Lager was formed by Marti and Chris Smith, and their hope is that Douglas will compete with the likes of Rainier. There’s a super cool backstory here, as Marti and Smith revived a bit of history while working on this project. “When Fish Brewing in Olympia was purchased and closed its doors, we were offered their old bottling line (pieces of which are from the old Olympia Beer and Rainier bottling line). Throughout Covid, we moved it piece by piece up to Tacoma and put it in the basement of 7 Seas Brewing, which is the original Heidelberg building that Rainier was first brewed in. We rehabilitated the old bottling line and began contract brewing the beer through 7 Seas until we outgrew that facility. Douglas is now brewed on a system twice the size of 7 Seas at Talking Cedar Brewery, just south of Olympia.”
We’re honored that two brewers — fueled by a passion for beer and an honor for tradition, with an awareness that climate change challenges require an evolution to their ingredients — are committed to bringing classic refreshment to consumers. Old school meets New world — we think these two are onto something!