Lager Beer Style Guide
There are two primary classifications for beer under which all styles fall. Ale is one and lager is the other. Lagers are made with bottom fermenting yeasts. These yeasts sink to the bottom of the brew during fermentation and activate at low relative temperatures compared to ales. Fermentation takes much longer than it does with ales at these lower temperatures.
Lagering as a process was discovered roughly 200 years ago in Bavaria where is was found that beers experiencing secondary fermentation in casks stored in the cool caves of the Alps produced beers with marked different characteristics than ales. These general traits include a smoother tasting, less aggressive character with little or no fruitiness.
The lagering process quickly became popular in areas where cool fermenting temperatures could be maintained, but it was not until the invention of refrigeration that lagers spread throughout the world. Due to the longer processing times, these beers tended to be made by producers with larger capital resources, i.e. breweries that could afford the greater storage.
Prohibition in the United States hastened the decline of small ale producing breweries. During World War II many of the larger breweries used their resources to market their products to soldiers from all over the world. They won many new, young people over to lagers. Anheuser-Busch Inc. is a good example of a large brewery that consolidated an extremely strong market position based on lagers. Be that as it may, many of these large breweries are not producing quality lagers but rather cheaply produced ones containing many non quality adjuncts such as rice and corn. These watered down lagers have left the door open to a new generation of exploring consumer that often is more concerned about quality and style differentiation. This type of consume also tends to not be as brand loyal.
The last several years have seen flat sales for the large breweries as a group and significant growth in sales for American microbrews (mostly ales) and foreign imports (whether ale or lagers they tend to be of higher quality). Although a lot of the lager beer volume is composed of cheap quality product from the large breweries, there are plenty of awesome products available, although they are primarily from Europe.
Pilseners are the most popular style by far world wide. The style was originated in Bohemia in a town named Pilsen by the brewery Plzensky Prazdroj. Their world famous, style defining brand is Pilsener Urquell. Pilsener means "from Pilsen". Although there are some excellent Pilseners produced outside this region, this style is frequently cheapened and is the basis for many beers of lackadaisical character or just plain cheap beer.
In Bohemia there is a town named Budweis which has breweries producing traditional Pilseners. One brand is Budweiser Budvar. Since these breweries and brands were established before the days of copyright and trademark protection, Anheuser-Busch was able to successfully adopt the name Budweiser and to protect the name in following years which they applied to their flagship product. It has been reported that they are trying to purchase a stake in the brewery that that bears the same name. While the Bohemian Budweiser is an all malt product, the American Budweiser uses cheap adjuncts such as rice and employs a lesser percentage of quality ingredients such as malted barely and hops. The result is a ghost of a Pilsener. Includes Bohemian All Malt and German All Malt Piseners which are described below.
Award Winning American Beers (not identified by subcatagory (Stoudt Brewing), Friesian Pilsener (The Leavenworth Brewery), Condor Lager (Irons Brewing) ), Hübsch Braü Pilsener (Sudwerk Privatbrauerei), Golden Spike Pilsener (Riverside Brewing), Legacy Lager (Chicago Brewing), Garten Brau Special (Capital Brewing)
German Pilsener
A classic German Pilsener is very light straw/golden color and well hopped. Hop bitterness is high. Hop aroma and flavor is moderate and quite obvious. It is a well-attenuated, medium-bodied beer, but a malty accent can be perceived. Fruity esters and diacetyl should not be perceived. There should be no chill haze. Its head should be dense and rich.
Classic Producers
Jever (Fresisches Braühaus zu Jever, Germany), Bitburger (Bitburger Brauerei Teo Simon, Germany)
Complementary Foods
Eggs Benedict, spicy chicken such as cajun or Thai, various white fish, mussels, lobster, crab, creamy dressed green salads, cream of chicken soup, cream of potato soup, cream of mushroom soup
Original Gravity (°Plato): 1.044- 1.050 (11 - 12.5 °Plato)
Apparent Extract/Final Gravity (°Plato): 1.006 - 1.012 (1.5 - 3 °Plato)
Alcohol by weight (volume): 3.6 - 4.2.5% (4 - 5%)
Bitterness (IBU) (30 - 40)
Color SRM (EBC): 3 - 4 (7 - 10 EBC)
Bohemian Pilsener
Pilseners in this subcatagory are similar to German Pilseners, however, they are slightly more full-bodied and can be as dark as light amber. This style balances the moderate bitterness and noble hop aroma and flavor with a malty, slightly sweet medium body. Diacetyl may be perceived in very low amount. There should be no chill haze. Its head should be dense and rich.
Classic Producers
Pilsner Urquell (Plzensky Prazdroj, Czech Republic), Gambrinus (Pivovar Gambrius, Czech Republic)
Complementary Foods
Light white fish such as carp or perch, potato pancakes, ginger pork won ton soup, Russian borscht, crab, lobster, green vegetables, Chicken Kiev, creamed pork dishes, hot and sour soup, cream of chicken soup, cream of potato soup, cream of mushroom soup
Original Gravity (°Plato): 1.044- 1.056 (11 - 12.5 °Plato)
Apparent Extract/Final Gravity (°Plato): 1.014 - 1.020 (3.5 - 5 °Plato)
Alcohol by weight (volume): 3.2 - 4% (4 - 5%)
Bitterness (IBU) (35 - 45)
Color SRM (EBC): 3 - 5 (7 - 14 EBC)
