I am absolutely not making that up - perhaps whatever premium light lagers you drink are better, but the UK market (which I’m more familiar with) is awash with

I am absolutely not making that up - perhaps whatever premium light lagers you drink are better, but the UK market (which I’m more familiar with) is awash with “lager” that is barely lagered at all, and the 1-week mash to bottle or mash to tap schedule is relatively well known. I'm having trouble finding primary sources but have various secondary ones - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/14/supermarket-lagers-best-worst-taste-test-bottles https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/14/superma... https://www.ft.com/content/e5a1417d-47f9-4245-a265-a66055ea81af https://www.ft.com/content/e5a1417d-47f9-4245-a265-a66055ea8... "the beers are produced in around 10 days." - https://protzonbeer.co.uk/comments/2014/02/26/after-cantona-ban-time-to-define-lager https://protzonbeer.co.uk/comments/2014/02/26/after-cantona-... And it doesn't seem to be purely a UK issue - "I did a tour of a Polish commercial brewery (I want to say Tyskie, but it might have been Żywiec) and the guide said, with pride, that it takes them no more than two weeks from grain to store shelf." https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/o2jqy1/comment/h27qw12/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/o2jqy1/comment... And there are tricks you can do, such as using faster-fermenting yeast strains (34/70 is mentioned), pressure fermentation (which suppresses ester formation and allows you to ferment warmer, therefor faster) and overpitching for speed, centrifuging and cold-crashing to clear the beer quickly etc. Commercial lagers are also famous for using cheap adjuncts, like rice in Bud for instance, and corn in others. Lots of small brewers do lagers and pilseners, FYI, I've had several in the last couple of weeks (from a selection pack of local brews) - https://blackbrewingco.com.au/products/lager https://blackbrewingco.com.au/products/lager https://www.brighttankbrewing.com.au/2021/02/east-perth-lager/ https://www.brighttankbrewing.com.au/2021/02/east-perth-lage... https://cowaramupbrewing.com.au/craft-beer-range/ https://cowaramupbrewing.com.au/craft-beer-range/ And lots of other beer styles can take longer than a few days for fermentation and conditioning, particularly the stronger stuff. NEIPAs can take 2 weeks just in primary fermentation, for instance. AFAICT it's you that's made up the idea that smaller oeprations can't age their beer a handful of weeks weeks but the larger operations can. Not to mention all the various barrel-aged craft beers that crop up, and things like brett-saison's that can take months to ferment out fully. So again - maybe what you are drinking is aged with care, and is made from an all-malt base, and is well flavoured with the appropriate noble hop strains. But the mass market doesn't necessarily operate that way, and you can't just pick a random lager off the shelf and expect very much care or craft has gone into it. I'm not saying you're wrong to enjoy lager, and there are great ones out there, but it's just one style of many, and they're not all some amazing artisan feet. A lot from the larger operators are quick-churned shite.