The Craft Beer Market
Figueroa Mountain Brewing is a craft brewer located in Southern California. The craft beer market has grown rapidly over the last 40 years after Congress legalized homebrewing in 1978, inspiring many beer enthusiasts to start their own small breweries. Today the overall beer market is flat and possibly in slight decline. The craft beer segment has become a greater percentage of the overall total. Many small breweries are closing, but many are also starting up. The number of breweries in the United States continues to rise, albeit at a much slower rate.
Figueroa Mountain Brewing
Figueroa Mountain Brewing has four tasting rooms in Southern California. I have been to the one in Santa Barbara, which is located in the “Funk Zone” downtown and is a great place to try their beers. It has an outdoor covered area and live bands and is adjacent to Lucky Penny, which has great pizzas. You can order from Lucky Penny right there and they will deliver it to you.
Figueroa Mountain Brewing was founded by father and son team, Jim and Jaime Dietenhofer, in 2010. With a passion for craft beer, they set out to pay homage to the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley with handcrafted beer and hand-drawn artwork depicting the local landscape on their labels.
Named after the mountain seen from their family home in Los Olivos, Figueroa Mountain Brewing opened in Buellton, California with only a handful of employees. Since then, the company has grown to become one of the fastest growing craft breweries in America and now has a staff of over 200 which they affectionately call the #FigFam.
Figueroa Mountain Brewing Danish Red Lager
Figueroa Mountain describes Danish Red Lager as “Lush layers of caramel malt flavor with a beautiful amber hue. Inspired by the Danish village of Solvang in the Santa Ynez Valley and the red lagers of Denmark. Our Danish Red Lager is crafted with a blend of European caramel malts and balanced with North American and German hops, producing layers of rich, caramel malt flavor and a full body. This beer is fermented with a European lager yeast and cold-conditioned for an extended period of time for a very clean profile. Skål!” Danish Red Lager has a 5.5% ABV and a low 23 IBU. It has approximately 180 calories. It has a “Good” rating on Beer Advocate.
Our Review of Danish Red Lager
This is my favorite beer. Full disclosure: I like red ales and lagers and shy away from bitter beers or beers with a strong aftertaste. I have had Danish Red Lager by the bottle and on tap and it always delivers. The beer itself has a more robust taste than regular lagers and goes great with spicy foods like Kung Pao Chicken. However, it is not as good by itself as an afternoon refresher. With a 5.5% ABV, it is higher than most lagers, and with a 23 IBU has no bitter aftertaste. It has won over 20 medals at beer festivals over the years.
For another recommendation, see our review of Figueroa Mountain Davy Brown Ale.
For beer nutritional information of all beers we have reviewed see Beer Nutritional Information.
