Rockford Brewing Company - Rockford Golden Lager

Rockford’s Golden Lager is a Czechoslovakian-style Pilsner which is brewed with a combination of four specialty malts imported from Europe including two-row Pale, Carapils, Vienne, and Wheat malts. Marty adds Hallertauer hops at the start of the 90-min. boil and again 10 minutes into it for bittering and a heap of Saaz hops 30 minutes into the boil to give the beer its Czech personality. A Belgian Lager yeast strain is used and the beer is lagered for two months prior to bottling.

We found the nose on this pils to offer a subtle floral hop aroma, followed by a delicate pale malt character. The beer is light golden as it should be, filtered, and offers a good head. The Saaz hop bitterness emerges in the body as dominant over a sweet malt background. This is a nicely balanced pilsner. Its finish is clean, crisp and very dry. Overall, a very drinkable, well-balanced, and flavorful interpretation of a style rarely attempted by U.S. micros.

Located in Wilmington, Delaware, The Rockford Brewing Company is Delaware’s first microbrewery to produce bottled and draft beer since 1952. Founder/Brewmaster, Marty Haugh, not only spearheaded the movement to pass legislation allowing for a microbrewery within the state, but was the first to take advantage of the amended laws when he opened the brewery in June of 1995. A native to Wilmington, Haugh spent most of his professional life working for a large mechanical and electrical contracting company.

A graduate of Siebel’s Brewing Studies Program and veteran homebrewer, Marty also fine-tuned his brewing skills as an apprentice brewer at both the Chicago Brewing Co. and the Niagara Brewing Co. before formulating his own recipes. A somewhat fanatical homebrewer for over a decade prior to founding the brewery, Haugh often roasted his own grains and put his engineering skills to use by building a ½ barrel personal brewhouse and 1-barrel fermenter. Now playing with some manly-man-sized toys, his 25 barrel brewhouse utilizes a steam jacketed mash tun and steam heated kettle, five, 50-barrel fermenters, and two 100-barrel bright beer tanks. The brewery currently produces 3 bottled products and you’re going to try them all this month. In addition to what we’ve sent you, Rockford also kegs a stronger version of the bottled IPA, Equinox, a Belgian Wit, and Barley Mill Stout, a sweet stout.

For more information about the brewery and scheduled tours, call (302) 575-1640.