Smoother. Perfectly-Balanced. Naturally Carbonated.

There are two classes of beer, ales and lagers. While there are many fineales, Saxer is Oregon’s only microbrewer dedicated exclusively to lagers.What’s the difference?

Ales are easier to make. Most are made in about 7-to-10 days. They are madewith top-fermenting yeast, at warmer temperatures. Many ales are brewed to accentbitterness. Because of the quick brewing cycle, most ales are artificiallycarbonated by CO2 gas just before bottling.

Lagers at Saxer Brewing takes 30 to 60 days to make. We use bottom-fermentingyeast, and cold-condition the beer down to 32-degrees. The benefits of lageringare a balance and smoothness unmatched by most ales. You taste the crisp flavorof the hops in perfect balance with the rich character of the barley malts. And,the longer aging process allows time to carbonate the beer naturally.

Saxer is the only microbrewery in the Northwest with an authentic Bavariantwo-step decoction brew-house, shown right. Decoction releasesfermentable sugars in the malt in the most flavorful way.

We brew in small batches, 30 barrels at a time. During brewing, our brewmaster constantly monitors the temperature in thekettles, as well as over 100 different parameters throughout the process. As inages past, he weighs and pitches the hops into the brew kettle by hand. As thebeer lagers, each tank is checked daily for flavor, color and naturalcarbonation; you can see our lagering tanks in the top picture. Our brewers andcellarmen insure that each hand-crafted batch is true to its heritage and adelight to your palate.