District’s Festbier Märzen Lager pours bronze and smooth, with a round, slightly sweet palate and a deep, toffee-ish aroma. The appetizing bitterness serves to balance rather than challenge the malt. The word Märzen itself has an interesting history. Literally, it means “of March” in German. It was the last batch of beer out the door in old-time Bavaria, as brewing was forbidden in the old country between April and September. This tradition runs back to times when brewers didn’t have cooling capacity or refrigeration. This led to the brewers producing their beer that would benefit most from aging in March. It would sit and age over the summer months, and be released after harvest in September and October. Thus Oktoberfest was born. Cooke points out that, though District’s Märzen it is a malt-forward beer, it was designed for drinking a litre at a time, making it more approachable than many malt lagers. “It’s not a sipping beer by any means. It’s a malt-forward beer that highlights what malt can be. It has a nice balance that makes it very drinkable in larger quantities.” The decision to focus on lagers was based mainly on what Cooke and his partners enjoyed drinking themselves. But from a sales standpoint, much of the decision was really just a shot in the dark. “To be completely honest, we didn’t have a lot of market research on what Prairie drinkers really pre- ferred. There weren’t really enough craft breweries around to figure that out… it was more just trying some things and seeing what worked. People are used to drinking lager- style beers, so let’s show them that lagers can have more flavour, and at the same time, not blow their heads off with super hoppy beer.” District definitely embraced the ‘ease them in’ approach to gaining an audience for craft beer in Regina. Because there was little reference point for stronger craft brews, offering a double IPA with mouth-slapping hops would’ve run counter to enticing people through the door and educating them on the joys of becoming a craft beer enthusiast. In fact, most of the now large and successful craft breweries continue to produce accessible, light lager-style beers alongside their richer beers.
It simply sells more than stouts and porters.
That’s not to say that District Brewing shies away from heavier beers. Far from it.
While the ‘old-reliable’ may be the blonde lager, their Bavarian Dark Lager brings an old-world feel to a malt-for- ward base. A bit of a history lesson on the production of dark beers comes with a taste of subtle noble hop bitterness and aroma. Those who have enjoyed a pint of the Bavarian Dark have also noted hints of toffee, raisin and chocolate in its finish. “It’s essentially the oldest type of beer around. And the reason why it’s dark ist that, at one point, all beers were dark. That’s because people were using fuel other than wood to fire up the kilns. All that smoke and hot tem- peratures made the malt dark… so our Dark is a German
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2017
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