New pacific northwest bred Douglas Lager created to compete with the macros

New pacific northwest bred Douglas Lager created to compete with the macros

Since closing their taproom (but not the brewery) Seattle, Washington’s Lowercase Brewing founders Chris Smith and John Marti have been working on launching a new brand called Douglas Lager. Described as an uncomplicated and classic beer that’s brewed and bottled in the Pacific Northwest, it is a beer expressly designed to convince light macro lager fans to switch over to a locally brewed version.

“We believe that the local macro space sorely needed a shake-up,” says Douglas Lager’s CEO Chris Smith. “We are still drinking the beers that used to be made here, but are now produced many states away. Douglas is made from one hop, one malt, and sourced entirely from the Cascadia region. At one time in history a consumer could choose from a wide range of local macros based on taste and we’d love to see that return.”

Though Douglas Lager is intrinsically tied up with Lowercase Brewing, the brand exists entirely separate from the Seattle brewery and is brewed and bottled in Tacoma with a salvaged bottling line from the late Fish Tale Ales. But it is unclear where the brewing facility is, or if it shares production on a larger established brewery.

“We needed to approach this market segment at scale and Lowercase’s 15bbl system isn’t up for the task,” says Smith. “Our goal is to appeal to all beer drinkers, not just craft beer drinkers, so we made the decision to take Douglas outside of the Lowercase brand umbrella and have it function independently as its own entity. Lowercase will continue to function in the craft beer space… this separation allows for Douglas to roam wherever it needs to go.”

Tacoma’s 7 Seas Brewing resurrected a vintage Washington industrial lager called Heidelberg Beer in 2021, that beer is now sold on draft and in cans at a lower price point and with it’s own separate branding. Washington has a long history with industrial lager brewing, with the legendary Rainier originally out of Seattle, and the extinct Olympia Brewing located not far away in Tumwater. Hood River, Oregon’s Full Sail Brewing was one of the pioneers of this approach when they launched Session lager sans Full Sail Brewing branding, with it’s own separate identity and packaged it in 11oz stubby bottles and refused to put it in any other formats including kegs for many years. Douglas Lager takes a similar approach with the highly unusual choice to package their beer ONLY in green glass 12oz bottles with no draft available for now.

“Bottles are iconic and tied to the great beers of our past,” says Smith. “We understand why most breweries have moved away from glass, however, we see Douglas as a return to a simpler time in beer’s history and we think that a historical package feels perfect for this. We love the idea of being able to belly up to a bar and grab a local macro in a bottle. Eventually we will offer Douglas in multiple formats, but for now we are only going to package in glass bottles.”

Douglas Lager is already in production with a distribution deal with NW Beverage, but to get it up to the inaugural launch and encourage consumer buy-in, they are rolling out a kickstarter funding project.

“So far we've created the identity, landed a distributor, and are on the home stretch to get this beer into the greater Cascadia marketplace,” said John Marti, Head Brewer at Douglas Lager. “We just need your help making the last push to cross the finish line. Our hope is that once people taste Douglas Lager, they will make the switch from other established macro beers.”

The Douglas Lager Kickstarter page features multiple options to back the launch with pledge options ranging from $50 to $1,000. Rewards are received for each pledge level. These include an exclusive, Kickstarter-only Dougie Bucket Hat, a Douglas Lager Care Package featuring branded swag, a Douglas Lager Jersey inspired by a famed PNW sports team, an old-school wooden beer crate, and the option to meet with the people behind the scenes and see the historic machinery in Tacoma, including some pieces from Olympia Beer’s old bottling line, that helps brings Douglas Lager to life. Further details on the rewards available can be found here.

Douglas Lager is anticipated to be on-premises at local Seattle-area bars and restaurants in September, and will later expand throughout Cascadia. Also, Douglas Lager has officially made its debut on social media and you can follow them on Instagram and Facebook for updates.