The Slumbering Lungfish Dybbuk Hostel and All-Night Boulangerie

I'm a huge fan of Pilsner Urquell, which was the original Pilsner and the model for most good lagers. For other mass market beers, Red Stripe is very refreshing. If you want something German, the pale lager Spaten Premium should be available most places too.

Surely you can get Lagunitas Czech-style Pils in your neighborhood?

Modelled on Pilsner Urquell, naturally.

Sudwerks makes good stuff, should be available in BevMo. Tiger Gold is also tasty. Have you tried the Triple Rock Brewery or Jupiter on Shattuck?

http://beeradvocate.com/beerfly/list?city=Berkeley&c_id=US&s_id=CA has good credentials and seems to recommend http://www.jupiterbeer.com/ and http://www.triplerock.com/ .

Yes, a summer lager is the way to go.

Well, my favorite summer beer is a nice, cold Corona Extra, and it happens to be a lager as well. However, if you're looking for somthing with a little more flavour, I'd suggest either Stella Artois or Leffe Blonde. All of the above should be available at any half-decent beer store or pub.

I'd avoid the fighting lager if I were you... Stella is more style than substance, though they do some great TV adverts.

I agree that Stella Artois is one of the best beer imports you can buy.

There re some nice beers from your neck of the woods, though. Anchor Steam comes out of San Francisco, and I believe Pete's Wicked is brewed in California as well.

Paulaner Dopplebock, which I currently have 3 bottles of in the fridge. If you're in the city sometime next week, I'll give you one.

Better, if you're in the city, go to Suppenkuche and have a great German lager on tap.

Full Sail Session Lager.

Stella is piss. Over here they call it "wifebeater". A friend of mine from Belgium was telling me that they started brewing it when the Nazis occupied Belgium and demanded a beer like they had at home (Belgian beer is almost all ales).

My favorite Pilseners from continental Europe, for what it's worth, are:
- Radegast, from the Czech Republic
- Topvar, from Slovakia
- Eggenberg, from Austria.

Also it might be worth clarifying what kind of lager you're interested in. The default "lager" in the US and UK is yellow, pale, and around 4-5%...this is generally a copy of the "Pilsener" style, which includes Pilsener Urquell, Budovice Budvar/Czechvar/real Budweiser, North Coast Scrimshaw, etc.

But a lager is technically any beer fermented with the yeast Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, so that opens up the possibilities of steam beer (Anchor Steam), bock & dopplebock, all the way up to something dark and strong like a Baltic porter (North Coast Old Rasputin is an excellent local example).

I'm a fan of Kronenborg 1664. It's relatively cheap, refreshing and actually tasty with it.

There are a few options.

I'd recomment the Sierra Summerfest - it's a light beer that's lager-ish, but might not be bottom fermented.

Or, make a pilgrimmage over to suppenkuche - www.suppenkuche.com. They have beers there you can't get anywhere else in the states, and you could spend a few evenings there figuring out what you wanted.

Boont Amber Ale.
Look for a bear with antlers on an amber label.
Great taste and a real kick!

E J Phair in Concord does some pretty good beer, and they do have two lagers, a pilsener and a marzen. Triple Rock sometimes has lagers, but not as a regular thing. They're good anyway, and as far as I know the only actual brewpub (Pyramid doesn't count) left in Berkeley proper. Jupiter isn't really a brewpub anymore, and it's owned by the same people as Triple Rock anyway.

Whatever you do, for the love of god(s) avoid San Francisco Brewing Company, for your sanity if nothing else. Beautiful bar, nifty 1910 era building, horrible horrible horrible sanitiation.

Go to Triple Rock on Shattuck (between Hearst and University) and order a print of their pilsner, which they should still have. Their Titanium Pale Ale ("light but strong!") is also a wonderful brew. Most recently, they've had a Hefenweiser with a lovely banana-clove flavor.

Also, their fries are stupidly good.

So, it's not a lager, it's a kolsch, but Pyramid's Curveball is my most favoritest summer beer of all time, evar.

Thanks for the recommendations, everyone. I'll try out what I can get my hands on. I've had Curveball, and I didn't know what to make of it. It had this almost herbal taste to it that I couldn't decide if I liked or not. Assuming I'm thinking of the right beer here.

Good ol' Anchor Steam! They serve beer at their factory on Potrero Hill -- and it rocks! Reserve a slot for the FREE tour that comes with FREE tastings. Yes, it's good beer -- for FREE. If you're checking out beer spots, this is definitely a MUST.

If you can get Staropramen over there, I'd recommend that without hesitation.

Here's an image of that there Boont Amber Ale.

If you see this at your beer store, grab it.

http://www.sotallytober.com/images/brew/162.jpg

Yeah, curveball's pretty strange. I find it the refreshing kind of strange, tho. Crisp without relying too much (or much at all) on the hops.

Passing by a store that sold Pilsner Urquell, I made a joke about it to my friend, who worked it into this comic:

http://muertitos.comicgenesis.com/d/20050621.html

Great timing, I just recently started up a liquor (mostly beer) review blog. http://liquorlog.blogspot.com

As for lager, Red Stripe is pretty good, Japanese beers such as Kirin, Sapporo, and Asahi are great in the summer, and if all fails, there's allways Heineken and Stella Artois.

Don't overlook Beck's. It's cheap, crisp and usually tasty (although I've gotten bad/stale batches from time to time). If you prefer more flavor, Beck's Dark is a decent summertime brew for the full-bodied beer fan.

I'm also partial to Gösser, which is maybe a little bit harder to find but not by much. Another reliable, workmanlike German lager with a good, crisp flavor.

Another vote for Sudwerk. Try the Doppelbock, if you can find it. Failing that, you can jump on the train to Davis, walk to the brewery, and drink all the Doppelbock you want.

Curveball is odd, but *everything* from Pyramid is odd. And not in a good way, like Bison's freaky lemongrass basil ale. I worked there, mind you, and have first hand experience. Their scotch ale tastes like bananas, their hefe tastes like band-aids, their pale ale is more bitter then their IPA, which is the wrong way around. The only cool thing Pyramid ever did was to ferment 7th Street, which was an accident. The only good thing coming out of that building, I think, is Thomas Kemper Soda, and I can *still* tell stories about that stuff...

It isn't very posh, but I rather enjoyed Samuel Adams Boston Lager when we were in the US last month. And we live in Prague so we know from lager. Also, you can get it everywhere.

If you travel to around 31st Ave. & Clement Street in San Francisco, there is a Russian market called "Euro Foods". In addition to a rather spectacular Russian deli, they usually have 7-9 different varieties of Baltic Lager. In fact, you could do a Rating of Baltic Lagers, there's enough of them ...

The Sam Adams you can get here in Boston is better than the Sam Adams they sell everywhere else. You might not believe that's true, but do you have the guts to come up here and prove it? Bring money.

(post paid for by Boston Tourism Board)

Another definite vote for Staropramen, even if it does mean agreeing with McDuff.