The relatives of lager, a name bestowed on a light beer that is brewed with only a small amount of hops, are curious and farflung. They range from lie, to ledge, to lair, to lees, to Utter, to fellow, to law. All of these words evolved from an Indo-European source pronounced something like legh, which meant to lie down. This original sense is obvious with the verb lie (the one meaning to become prone, not the one meaning to deceive), and it’s not far below the surface with lair, a place where an animal lies down. With lees, the connection is that the sediment that forms during wine fermentation eventually “lies down” on the bottom of the bottle, and with ledge, the connection is that a ledge lies horizontal, as opposed to a “standing” column or arch. A. fellow was originally a person one could lie down with, that is, a peer or social equal, and laws were originally decrees that were laid down for all to observe. (Even today, a parent will tell a troublesome teenager, “It’s time to lay down the law.”) With litter, the connection is a bit more complex. The Indo-European legh became the French lit, denoting a place where one lies down to go to bed. This French word became the English litter, meaning bed. Centuries ago, beds were often nothing more than a pile of straw, which eventually became dirty and needed to be thrown out. The bed—or litter—was therefore raked up and thrown into the rubbish, which is how the word Utter eventually came to by synonymous with trash. Finally, with lager, the hero of this entry, the connection is this: lager is a shortened form of the German lagerbier, meaning store-house-beer, and a storehouse is where you lay things until they are ready to be used. In the case of lager, it was ready to be enjoyed after several months, when the sediment in the bottles had settled.
Lager, a type of beer that can either be dark or pale, has been crafted in Bohemia for centuries and was also prevalent in Germany and other regions. Today, it is produced on a large scale across numerous countries in a lighter form. While it is made using hops, the brewing process differs slightly from that of other beers. Lager is a carbonated beverage that is best enjoyed when served chilled.