A book about lager written by lager brewers

Jack's Abby Craft Lager's Jack Hendler and Joe Connolly penned Modern Lager Beer: Techniques, Processes, and Recipes

Jack Hendler is a lager evangelist. Since opening Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers in 2011 in Framingham, Mass., with his brothers Eric and Sam, Hendler has tirelessly spread the gospel of lager beer.

(It’s right in the name of the brewery, after all.)

And now, along with Jack’s Abby sales director Joe Connolly, an original employee of the brewery, they’ve published “Modern Lager Beer: Techniques, Processes, and Recipes,” a reference book and guide for brewers, homebrewers, and nerds alike.

Connolly and Hendler will be in Rochester on Thursday, Aug. 8, promoting the book and drinking some Jack’s Abby classics at two stops: The Sheffield Tavern, 1776 Monroe Ave. in Brighton, and The Playhouse // Swillburger, 820 S. Clinton Ave. in Rochester. The Sheffield event will run from 4 to 6 p.m., while the Playhouse event kicks off at 6 p.m. Copies of the book will be available for sale at each stop.

I still remember my first Jack’s Abby beer. I was visiting a buddy in Rhode Island around 2012 (June 30, 2012, to be exact. Thanks, Untappd!). I remember the slender 500 mL bottle (the same ones still utilized by Maine Beer Co.). And then that first sip of Hoponius Union was wild. Who was hopping a pale lager like an IPA?

Hendler kindly carved out some time for me earlier this week and we chatted about his brewery, his love of lager, why they compiled this book, and how it has inspired him. Here’s a Q&A transcript of that chat:

Cleveland Prost: Why did you decide the focus was always gonna be lagers?

Hendler: We certainly saw a need for more lager beer in the market. It’s one of those styles of beer that I like drinking the most and it fit well with my brewing education. The amazing thing is when we opened 13 years ago, there were 3,000 breweries and that doubled within a few years. We thought the market was saturated. So we had to step out and do something that set us apart from the crowd. We really saw lagers as that avenue.

I think it has served us well, because it’s positioned us well as we’ve seen where the craft beer scene has gone.

CP: Why did you and Joe put this book together? What were your goals?

JH: There is definitely a lack of information and a lot of the information that is available is either wrong or misinterpreted. Think about where a lot of brewers come from before they start breweries — the vast majority of brewers start homebrewing and then move into commercial brewing. The beers they’re brewing, the education they’re getting, the books and magazines they’re reading to get these ideas, they all focus on ale production. There’s a moment I had, probably five years ago, when I was looking into something and needed an answer and I was stuck trying to look through these two very large, in-depth textbooks for things that weren’t gonna help me. The great thing about books geared toward homebrewers and brewers in the U.S. is the practicality of the information. That practicality is not there for lager beer. It’s all very technical, it’s all in German, and it hasn’t really been translated. So the thought was, ‘Why don’t we have this for lager brewers?’ There’s probably a lot of people that want to learn a lot more about lager beer. We need to give a practical guide and take these bigger textbooks and present the information practically.

CP: What other resources did you tap into or consult when writing this book?

JH: We talked to a lot of lager brewers. I think we talked to over 70 breweries and we were able to take practical information for each of those breweries and pass along that information. I think we were inspired by a lot of other books. You think of ‘Brew Like a Monk’ or ‘Brewing with Wheat’ or a lot of those other books that delve into complicated topics but do it in a way that’s practical.

CP: So you could really think of this book as a ‘Lager for Dummies.’

JH: I hope we give people the comfort and the confidence to dip their toes into this. I think we do keep it pretty technical at times, and we do make sure that we give as much information as we can, in a fashion that people can wrap their heads around.

CP: At least anecdotally, why do you think we’re seeing a resurgence in lagers? And speaking from the perspective of someone in the Rochester area, you can pretty much walk into any brewery around town and see a lager on draft. Why do you think that is?

JH: There’s a better understanding about what lager is. When craft beer began, lager beer was just American light lager. The whole idea of craft beer was we were fighting against Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors Light, or whatever other big brewery was out there. And it just so happened those breweries made lager. Lager had a name that was tarnished. At this point with the maturing craft segment, people are a little more open to things. Lager isn’t necessarily our enemy any more. We can incorporate that into what we’re doing in our business plan. And then there are probably some other smaller reasons. I think one thing that has become really interesting is this Pilsner growth, where you’re starting to see a lot of innovation and craftiness going into that style. People are getting excited about different malts and hops. There’s Italian Pils or French Pils. It has been an interesting way for brewers to tip-toe into lager and feel like it’s more a craft style than a macro style.

CP: There’s a misconception that lager only entails two or three styles. There’s room for so much innovation, as you noted. But to keep it simple, do you have a favorite style of lager?

JH: That’s a good question. I tend toward the maltier, golden, whether its Helles or Munich-style Oktoberfest. Somewhere in that Helles to export range is where I’m generally happiest.

CP: So not only are you looking to educate others with this book, you were able to educate yourself during the process.

JH: We’re working on a few beers, particularly in conjunction with the book. We have one called Modern Hell and one called Modern Pils. We’re working on some of the cool techniques and inspiration we got while writing the book. We incorporated that into some of the new beers we’ve started piloting at the brewery.

We learned so many great things and we’re excited to share that. We didn’t keep any secrets to ourselves. Everything we learned, it’s all out there in the book. Hopefully other brewers will be trialing these ideas and processes and making some really interesting lager beer.

A final note: It’s pretty wild to think I’ve been working on this independent publication for over two years now. In that time, I’ve published 200 newsletters, highlighted some of my favorite people in the industry, curated two beers festivals (that featured 150 participants and 4,600 attendees), and continued to break all the biggest news in the region (closures, consolidations, openings, etc.).

The Cleveland Prost remains the preeminent source for regional beer news. If you own a brewery, bar, or beer-adjacent business, this is the best place to reach the nerds you wanna be in front of. So I remain open to sponsorships, advertisements, and sponsored content. Feel free to reach out to me at clevelandprost@gmail.com for more. And more than anything, thanks for all the support. None of this would be possible without the devoted (and thirsty) audience.