Pilsner Perfect

"My favorite brew ever," says Dean Coffey, brewmaster of Madison's (WI) Ale Asylum, speaking of the full experience, not of the beer itself, "was a car-warm Pabst Blue Ribbon after a daylong hike out of the Grand Canyon in a freaky flash flood snowy sleet storm."

PBR, MGD and Blatz are bohunk beloveds, American lagers (which include pilsners and bocks) of the macro vein. Germans brought lagers to America with their early nineteenth-century emigration. Beer barons meléed in Milwaukee, with the Miller, Pabst and Schlitz families dominating the market.

Teutons are titans of the tun, lords of lagering; their largess largely from historic access to strategic resources. Lagers flourished in Germany and Wisconsin partly due to surfeit supplies of ice and caves to facilitate cold fermentation. In the forests of the north grew a renewable crop of barrels-in-the-making; trees kept coopers occupied.

Madison-area breweries have produced pilsners and other lagers since Wisconsin's statehood. Huber has been continuously brewing since 1848, Gray's since 1856 and Cross Plains since 1863.

Madison's and Chicago's regional breweries have preserved the traditional recipes and flavors. Diverse from light to dark, from thin to thick, through thick and thin, a chilled European or American lager can be most refreshing on a hot summer's eve.

How They Do It

Lager yeasts ferment on the bottom at temperatures near freezing, as opposed to warmer top-fermenting ales.

How to Serve It

The glass is called a pilsner, after the beer that goes best in it. Thin-walled, sometimes with a disc base, with condensation that's cold to the touch. Cool it ... in your fridge, or put some on ice.

What to Pair with It

A lusty lager will wick the wicked heat off a Thai Pad Bai Ka Prao. Cheese it with a hearty havarti. Boil your brats and onions in it. Plus a pilsner goes great with a hot or veggie dog, relish and mustard.

Where to Get It

Wisconsin's Great Dane has two top-notch pilsners, a charming Czech called Peck's and a genuine German. Capital Brewery's beers are all lagers (except for their new Island Wheat); find them, especially the Special Pilsner, in bottles at liquor stores everywhere. In Aurora, Payton's Pilsner at Walter Payton's Roundhouse is crisp and fresh and clean.

Entertain with It

Hey, hey! Take me out to a ball game and pour me a cool one. Or watch the Boys of Summer streaming on the web. Damn, I miss Jack Brickhouse and Harry Carey. I guess Uecker'll do.