Beer Sherpa: Polish Lager
Karolina Lobrow and Ben Howe
I made a lightning trip to the northernmost reaches of the Evergreen State this week, and had just enough time to do a bit of brewery hopping in Bellingham. Thanks to a tip on social media, I stopped in at Otherlands, a brewery that opened last year in the midst of Covid. Founded by the wife and husband team of Karolina Lobrow and Ben Howe, it is a wonderful little meditation on rusticity. While they also make IPAs (because America), two veins of brewing tradition animate the brewery—Belgian saison and Franconian lager.
The saisons were very much on point, complex yet approachable, but the lagers were the beers that caught my attention. Otherlands has developed a reputation for their Franconian kellerbier, and if you’re lucky enough to catch them at the right time, you might see them tap a gravity keg:
Ben is a veteran, having started at Cambridge Brewing in the Boston area before briefly founding his own effort at making Belgian brut ales before continuing on the Idle Hands, Denmark’s Ebeltoft Gårdbryggeri, and Portland’s Wayfinder. He also did a short internship at Brauerei Zehendner in Mönchsambach—a pivotal stop. Not only did he learn a lot about the Franconian approach to brewing, he fell in love with the yeast strain they used, and he tracked down a slant of it at a German yeast bank. That’s the strain he uses, and it’s a dandy.
It contributes a soft, full flavor, brown bread and, by Ben’s description, it’s tinged with banana (below my detection threshold). It’s distinctive enough that I could even identify it in Otherland’s sweet and roasty Czech dark lager. The kellerbier, helles, and Czech dark were all fantastic beers.
My favorite, however, was the “Polish lager” created in honor of Karolina’s heritage. She was born in Poland and lived there the first years of her life before moving to Washington. In a nod to her background, the menu has some Polish favorites including pierogies and an elegant plate of latkes with creme fraiche. But Haładuda Specjal, the lager, was the star of the show. Modern Polish lagers aren’t actually very interesting, and Ben admitted his was basically a decocted Czech pilsner with Lubelski hops (a landrace variety probably descended from Saaz). Without having any idea when pilsners got to Poland or how they were made, I’d still hazard a guess that they tasted like this 75 years ago. And if not, they should have. The beer is a slight 4.4% but has a medium body. The hops are spicy and assertive, and that yeast gives it all kinds of character. It’s a tremendous beer and I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s one of the best lagers I’ve had in recent years.
It’s a very cool brewery and Ben and Karolina are lovely people. Bellingham was already one of the best beer cities in the US, but now you have yet one more excellent brewery to add to your list of must-sees.
Kellerbier
Polish Lager
Dry-hopped saison.