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Just in time for the return of the shortened NBA season, Deschutes Brewery partnered with the

Portland Trail Blazers to release Rip City Lager. Available on draft since the end of July, Rip City Lager is now available in cans on retail shelves as well. And while the Blazers’ season ended with the loss to the Los Angeles Lakers during the Western Conference finals last month, Deschutes promises that the beer will be brewed through next year’s season.

The brewery describes Rip City as a “bright, citrusy lager” and a particular ingredient caught my eye: rice. Twenty-plus years ago, you would almost never find rice used in craft brewing. Early notions about the grain among microbrewers included that it was a cheap adjunct used to water down beer, or that beers brewed with grains other than barley and wheat were somehow less authentic to “real beer.” The fact that Budweiser is brewed with rice didn’t help this misconception.

On the contrary, rice as a brewing grain adds fermentable sugars and offers a clean and neutral aroma and flavor to the finished beer. This makes it a good candidate to lighten and dry out the body for a crisp finish. Over the years the stigma around rice evaporated as breweries experimented with the grain, and today it’s not uncommon to find beers brewed with it, as well as variations such as black and wild rice.

Rice is also gluten-free, and finds use in gluten-free brewing; Evasion Brewing Company of McMinnville is an entirely gluten-free brewery and uses rice in all of its beers. Deschutes brews its own gluten-free beers on tap exclusively at its pubs, using brown rice or rice syrup.

Is the rice apparent in Rip City Lager? The brewery sent me several cans to review, and the simple answer is no. It fulfills its role in a lighter American lager to offer up a crisp, dry and clean beer.

The recipe was the mastermind of Jake Harper, assistant brewmaster of the Portland Pub, and Kyle Matthias, assistant brewmaster of the Pilot Brewery here in Bend. Harper “did the majority of the recipe development,” and Matthias “brewed it with a couple of small tweaks to get it to scale,” according to Erin Rankin, marketing communications specialist for the brewery.

Rankin relayed Matthias’ notes on the beer, which are largely about drinkability: “(It’s) something you can enjoy over the course of a 2½-hour game. So for that reason, ABV and bitterness were kept low. The rice comes in here as it provides a crispness that allows for easy drinking, but to throw in a little intrigue and differentiate from the many very drinkable macros out there, we threw lemondrop and crystal hops late in the brewhouse to add a hit of subtle lemon and floral character for an elegantly simple beer.”

I found the hops to be subtle as advertised, lending a pleasant level of balance in earthy bitterness with a hint of citrus oil spiciness. Rip City is a crisp, grainy lager otherwise, with a clean and dry crackery malt body and a refreshingly light finish. There is an agreeable, though mellow, hint of zesty hops in the end, and overall it’s a nicely crushable lighter lager that I imagine fills its game day promise well.

With only 4.8 percent alcohol by volume and 20 IBUs, it’s easy to drink and is comparable to similar American-style lagers. In other words, you could enjoy several during the course of a game.

Even if you’re not a sports fan, Rip City Lager is worth a look as a lighter, sessionable alternative to many higher octane brews while still offering a nice burst of hop character.