Gerald O'Kennard

World-wide lager love-in: The World Beer Championships annual lager tasting, held by the Beverage Testing Institute (BTI) of Chicago, had a stellar showing of more than 100 lagers. Besides the usual suspects of high-quality U.S. and European craft beers, BTI was fortunate to taste a variety of specialty beers and imports from such giants as Anheuser-Busch, InBev, and SAB Miller. These big boys are taking note of the much-touted growth of the craft and imported categories, and are moving quickly to capture the imagination and dollars of the "new American beer drinker." This is great news for beer aficionados of all types, because there are more choices now than ever before and producers are putting their money where their mouths are by bringing better-tasting and more interesting products to market.

Many new and newly energized lager brands made it into this year's tasting. Starting with the pale lager category, we were pleased to find out that the Belgian flagship, Stella Artois (90 points) is true to its country's heritage of great beers, scoring the only gold medal in the category. On the pilsner side of town, Krusovice Imperial Lager (93 points), a newish Czech introduction from Binding Brauerei USA and Haywards 5000 Indian Lager (91 points) took top honors. Moving on to richer brews, the Ohio champ, the Great Lakes Brewing Company's Dortmunder Gold (92 points) got to keep its title and its Eliot Ness Lager (93 points) flexed its muscle and cleaned up in the Amber Lager category. The Ayinger brand confirmed its world-class credentials and gold medal status with all its entries and its effortlessly drinkable Oktober Fest-Marzen (95 points) and decadently rich Celebrator Dopplebock (95 points) were standouts.

Other richer notables for winter solace included the new Anheuser-Busch Brewmaster's Reserve (90 points) in its made-for-celebration magnum-sized bottle, the sumptuously fruity and nutty Hirtl Morchl (dark lager, 95 points), the toffee-like Okocim Palone (93 points), the chocolaty-rich Samuel Adams Black Lager (92 points), and the Bananas-Foster-like dessert beer, Capital Brewery's Eisphyre (93 points). We could go on and on, but words go only so far. Pick up some of these impossible-to-resist treats and taste for yourself. You may find a hundred bottles of beer on your wall or in your new refrigerator sooner than you think.

World Beer Championships Lager-Tasting
This listing features the highest-scoring beers tasted in the following categories.

Amber Lager
93, Eliot Ness Lager, Great Lakes Brewing Co. (OH)
90, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, The Boston Beer Co. (MA)
88, "150 Anniversario" Lager, Menabrea SPA (Italy)
88, Riverwest Stein Beer, Lakefront Brewery (WI)
88, Premium Lager, Coopers Brewery (Australia)

Black Beer
92, Samuel Adams Black Lager, The Boston Beer Co. (MA)
88, Donners Berger Schwarzbier, Privat Brauere Bischoff (Germany)
87, Shiner 97, Spoetzl Brewery (TX)

Bock Beer
91, Birra Strong, Menabrea SPA (Italy)
90, Brewmaster's Private Reserve, Anheuser-Busch (MO)
89, Burnin' Helles, Anheuser-Busch (MO)
86, "7.30" Bock, Kalnapilis (Lithuania)
82, Shiner Bock, Spoetzl Brewery (TX)

Dark Lager
95, Hirter Morchl, Braueri Hirt (Austria)
93, Altbairisch Dunkel, Privatbrauerei Aying (Ger.)
93, Palone, Okocim Brewery (Poland)
91, Dark Lager, Krusovice (Czech Republic)
91, Munich Dark Lager, Capital Brewery (WI)
90, Penn Dark Lager, Penn Brewery (PA)
90, Michelob Amberbock, Anheuser-Busch (MO

Doppelbock
95, Celebrator Doppelbock, Privatbrauerei Aying (Germany)
94, Samuel Adams Double Bock, The Boston Beer Co. (MA)
93, Autumnal Fire, Capital Brewery (WI)
92, Salvator Doppelbock, Paulaner Brauerei (Ger.)
91, Spaten Optimator, Spaten-Franziskaner Brau (Germany)

Dortmunder

Munich Helles
92, Jahrhundert-Bier, Privat-brauerei Aying (Germany)
90, Munich Lager, Hacker-Pschorr Brauerei (Germany)
89, Spaten Premium Lager, Spaten-Franziskaner Brau (Germany)
89, Original Munich Lager, Paulaner Brauerei (Ger.)
88, Stegmaier 1857, The Lion Brewery (PA)
88, Penn Gold, Penn Brewery (PA)

Pale Lager
90, Premium Lager, Stella Artois (Belgium)
89, Island Lager, Granville Island Brewing Co. (Can.)
88, Pale Lager, Zywiec Brewery (Poland)
88, Original Draught, Sleeman Brewing & Malting Co. (Can.)
88, Pure Brewed Lager, Samuel Smith's Old Brewery (Eng.)
88, Session Premium Lager, Full Sail Brewing Co. (OR)
88, Esser's Best, Cross Plains Brewery (WI)

Pilsner
93, Imperial Lager, Krusovice (Czech Republic)
91, 5000 Indian Lager, Haywards (India)
90, Premium Pilsner, Privat Brauere Bischoff (Germany)
90, Speical Pilsner, Capital Brewery (WI)
90, Hirter Privat Pils, Brauerei Hirt (Austria)

Reduced-Calorie Lager
90, Samuel Adams Light, The Boston Beer Co. (MA)
87, Micro-Light, Sprecher Brewing Co. (WI)
86, Light, Spoetzl Brewery (TX)
86, Moose Light, Moosehead Breweries (Canada)
83, Light Lager, Sleeman Brewing & Malting Co. (Can.)

Vienna Märzen
95, Oktober Fest-Märzen, Privatbrauerei Aying (Ger.)
94, Oktoberfest, Goose Island Brewing Co. (IL)
90, Oktoberfest Beer, Penn Brewery (PA)
90, Oktoberfest, Lakefront Brewery (WI)