Goodlife Brewing Co.'s High Altitude Premium American Lager is light-bodied and crisp on the tongue, with slightly sweet maltiness, and would be a great addition to your summer beer cooler.

GoodLife Brewing Co. introduced a new year-round beer into its core lineup this year, High Altitude Premium American Lager, and recently announced its availability in 12 packs. It’s an interesting addition for the brewery, typically known for its hop-forward ales.

“We began with an idea to brew a super-light lager because we (production team) all like to drink light lagers,” said Tyler West, director of brewing operations, via email. “We brewed a small batch which was very well received throughout the company. As we were going through style guidelines, it seemingly fit the description of a classic American lager.”

“American lager” as a style is best typified by what we usually think of as mass market or industrial beers, such as Budweiser, Coors or Pabst Blue Ribbon. In the early years of craft brewing, such beers were derided as watered-down, cheap, and flavorless.

Indeed, they are typically pale, light-bodied, neutral in character, and fairly inexpensive — the result of decades of cost cutting, homogenization and efficiency by the corporate megabrewers in order to appeal to the widest possible audience. But historically? These beers were anything but cheap and flavorless.

The origins of American lager can be traced to the late 19th century and the efforts by brewers to emulate a new style exploding in popularity — pilsner, the pale lager developed in what is now Czechia in the city of Pilsen in 1842. Pale golden in color, light-bodied and delicate, it had a striking clarity that captivated drinkers.

American brewers who tried to imitate it hit an impasse.

“Almost immediately… every brewer who attempted to duplicate (the style) collided with an incontrovertible truth: It was impossible,” wrote historian Maureen Ogle in “Ambitious Brew.” “Or, more accurately, it was impossible using protein-rich American six-row barley.”

Through experimentation with corn and rice, brewers learned to create their own versions of the pale lager.

“(The) result was a new and, because it contained adjuncts, a uniquely American beer and a triumph of brewing technique,” Ogle wrote. These beers cost more to make than standard all-malt brews.

After Prohibition and World War Two, a wave of consolidation and mergers swept the brewing industry; during the same period, American palates had grown blander, gravitating toward processed convenience foods and flavors. That meant blander beer, and corporate growth meant saving money.

What sets a craft brewed version of an American lager apart from its mass market counterpart? West underscored a number of differences.

“Mass-market beers are brewed just that way, in massive batches! The large breweries globally have far more access to resources (that) us craft brewers do not,” he said. “They have fully automated brewing processes with state of the art equipment, and testing labs that can identify off-flavors before you can taste them in the finished product.”

As a contrast, GoodLife and many others are fully hands-on operations, brewing much smaller batches that tend to be fuller flavored and characterful.

“The big brewers in America know how to make lager styles very well, and we wanted ours to stand out as a craft brewed lager with the feel of the classic American breweries,” West said.

For High Altitude, flaked rice made up about 15% of the grain bill along with pilsner malt. It’s hopped with Saaz hops, a classic varietal that originated in the Czech region, known for herbal, spicy flavors considered traditional for pilsners and similar styles. The finished beer is 4.9% alcohol by volume with 12 IBUs.

It looks the part, a pale golden color that is bright and mostly clear, topped with a crisp white head of foam. The aroma is grainy and doughy, with slightly sweet barley notes and almost no hop character.

It’s light-bodied and crisp on the tongue, with slightly sweet maltiness that’s a bit reminiscent of puffed barley cereal. There is just enough hop bitterness to balance the grainy sweetness, and I get a complementary, subtle melon flavor to round it out. It’s quite clean and drinkable overall.

GoodLife embraced the heritage behind the style.

“There is classic American culture behind this style, this is what drives the branding on the package,” West said. “We really had fun with a retro/heritage look of red, white and blue, and we think it would be cool to be a part of the block parties, 4th of July picnics and backyard barbecue!”

High Altitude is available now, and would be a great addition to your summer beer cooler.

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