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Miel Brewery & Taproom | Vienna Lager Bier

Miel Brewery & Taproom | Vienna Lager Bier
Katie de la Rosa

With its vibrant, diverse, and eclectic tap list, Miel Brewery & Taproom is often flexing its creative and innovative muscles. But with its newest release, the four-year-old brewery is also showing off just how well it honors traditional styles, too.

Last month, Miel released Vienna Lager Bier, the perfectly true-to-style Amber Lager that the New Orleans brewery made to pair with two of the most iconic springtime Louisiana traditions, Mardi Gras and crawfish season. Historically, this style of beer was brewed in Germany to celebrate festivals or weddings, said Alex Peyroux, Co-Owner and Head Brewer of Miel.

Miel Brewery & Taproom in New Orleans released Vienna Lager Bier, a perfectly true-to-style Amber Lager that pairs well with Mardi Gras and crawfish season. Photo Credit: Katie de la Rosa/PorchDrinking.com

“(Louisiana’s) first Mardi Gras after two years was a perfect reason to bring this beer back,” said Peyroux, referring to the absence of Carnival season since the pandemic began in 2020. “Since Mardi Gras also kicks off crawfish season in Louisiana, this Amber Lager pairs perfectly with a spicy crawfish boil, too. It’s really become our go-to beer at the brewery during these amazing spring days.”

With a malty backbone and a crisp finish, Vienna Lager Bier is robust with flavor and carbonation, but sessionable in body and ABV at 5%. Peyroux said he and Miel’s staff brewer, Shawna Hays, used a blend of Vienna and Maris Otter malts to provide “a nicely toasted sweetness.” Those malts blend well with the light dry hopping of Mandarina Bavaria hops, which offer some citrus bitterness.

The idea was to create a beer that “would be easy to drink on a parade route and strong enough to hold up with rich food,” said Peyroux, who co-owns and operates the brewery with his wife, Janice Montoya. (Montoya is the talented graphic designer who creates the gorgeous can art and taproom aesthetic that is undeniably and uniquely Miel).

Miel Brewery & Taproom in New Orleans released Vienna Lager Bier, a perfectly true-to-style Amber Lager that pairs well with Mardi Gras and crawfish season. Photo courtesy of Miel Brewery & Taproom.

Vienna Lager Bier is one of two Lagers that the 10-barrel brewery currently has on tap—not including three more in its fermentation tanks that offer 80 barrels of production space. Peyroux said he has been brewing lagers since they opened in 2018, but at the time they had only three tanks. Keeping beer in those long enough to lager was difficult while also having to keep up with growing taproom demand.

Miel Brewery & Taproom in New Orleans released Vienna Lager Bier, a perfectly true-to-style Amber Lager that pairs well with Mardi Gras and crawfish season. Photo Credit: Katie de la Rosa/PorchDrinking.com

Now, Lagers are often spotted on the Miel tap list, next to unique offerings like a Rye Sour and Pickle Goses. “We try hard to keep an exciting range of beers on our draft list, because craft beer drinkers love to try new beers often,” said the 33-year-old former brewer at Louisiana’s Abita Brewing and Boston’s Harpoon Brewery.

Vienna Lager Bier was released on draft and in cans, with the cans selling out in a little less than three weeks (for now, Miel sells beer only through its taproom, but is set to begin distribution in the greater New Orleans area soon). Montoya’s label art gave the can a retro feel, decked out in the traditional green, yellow, and purple colors of Mardi Gras.

“People love to buy a beer that matches their Carnival outfit,” Peyroux said.

Unlike several other of the 13 beers on draft in its taproom in the Irish Channel neighborhood of New Orleans, Miel intentionally did not give Vienna Lager Bier a clever or quirky name, like its Hefeweizen named Hellaweizen and Imperial Stout brewed on coconuts and marshmallows named Cult of Clout.

“When we make classic styles like the Vienna lager, we want to pay homage to those who pioneered it,” he said. “Instead of presenting the beer in a way that would appear that we invented it, naming it by its style shows that we respect those who brewed it before us, but that this is our twist on it.”

Feature image courtesy of Miel Brewery & Taproom


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