Light-colored low-temperature beer
Pale lager
is a
pale
-to-
golden
lager
beer
with a well-
attenuated body
and a varying degree of
noble hop
bitterness
.
In the mid-19th century, Gabriel Sedlmayr took British
pale ale
brewing and malt making techniques back to the
Spaten Brewery
in Germany and applied them to existing
lagering
methods. The resulting beers gradually spread around the globe to become the most common form of beer consumed in the world today.
History
[
edit
]
Bavarian
brewers
in the sixteenth century were required by law to brew beer only during the cooler months of the year. In order to have beer available during the hot summer months, beers would be stored (lagered) in caves and stone cellars, often under blocks of ice.
In the period 1820?1830, a brewer named Gabriel Sedlmayr II the Younger, whose family was running the
Spaten Brewery
in Bavaria, went around
Europe
to improve his brewing skills. When he returned, he used what he had learned to get a more stable and consistent lager beer.The result was a more stable and consistent but still dark beer. The Bavarian lager was still different from the widely known modern lager; due to the use of dark malts it was quite dark, representing what is now called
Dunkel
beer or the stronger variety,
bock
beer. This technique was applied by
Josef Groll
in the city of
Pilsen
,
Bohemia
,
Austria-Hungary
, (now
Czech Republic
) using less-roasted grains, resulting in the first pale lager
Pilsner Urquell
in 1842.
[
citation needed
]
The new recipe of the improved lager beer spread quickly over Europe. In particular Sedlmayr's friend
Anton Dreher
adopted new kilning techniques that enabled the use of lighter malts to improve the Viennese beer in 1840?1841, creating a rich amber-red colored
Vienna-style
lager.
Description
[
edit
]
Pale lagers tend to be dry, lean, clean-tasting and crisp. Flavors may be subtle, with no traditional beer ingredient dominating the others.
Hop
character (bitterness, flavor, and aroma) ranges from negligible to a dry bitterness from
noble hops
. The main ingredients are water,
Pilsner malt
and noble hops, though some brewers use
adjuncts
such as
rice
or
corn
to lighten the body of the beer.
Depending on style, pale lagers typically contain 4-6%
alcohol by volume
.
[1]
Variations
[
edit
]
Pilsner
[
edit
]
Pale lager was developed in the mid 19th century, when Gabriel Sedlmayr took some British
pale ale
brewing techniques back to the Spaten Brewery in Germany, and started to modernize continental brewing methods. In 1842 a new modern lager brewery
M???ansky pivovar
was built in
Pilsen
, a city in western
Bohemia
in what is now the
Czech Republic
. The first known example of a golden lager,
Pilsner Urquell
, was brewed there by
Josef Groll
.
[2]
This beer proved so successful that other breweries followed the trend, using the name
Pilsner
. Breweries now use the terms "lager" and "Pilsner" interchangeably, though pale lagers from the Czech Republic and Germany categorized as pilsner tend to have more evident noble hop aroma and dry finish than other pale lagers.
[3]
[4]
Dortmunder Export
[
edit
]
With the success of Pilsen's golden beer, the town of
Dortmund
in Germany started brewing pale lager in 1873. As Dortmund was a major brewing center, and the town breweries grouped together to export the beer beyond the town, the brand name
Dortmunder Export
became known.
[5]
Today, breweries in Denmark, the Netherlands, and North America also brew pale lagers labelled as Dortmunder Export.
Helles
[
edit
]
"
Helles
" or "
hell
" is a traditional German pale lager, produced chiefly in
Southern Germany
, particularly
Munich
. The German word
hell
can be translated as "bright", "light", or "pale". In 1894, the Spaten Brewery in
Munich
noticed the commercial success of the pale lagers
Pilsner
and
Dortmunder Export
; Spaten utilized the methods that Sedlmayr had brought home over 50 years earlier to produce their own pale lager they named
helles
in order to distinguish it from the darker, sweeter
Dunkelbier
or
dunkles Bier
("dark beers") from that region.
[6]
[7]
Initially other Munich breweries were reluctant to brew pale-coloured beer, though, as the popularity of pale beers grew, so other breweries in Munich and Bavaria gradually began brewing pale lager either using the name
hell
or
Pils
.
[8]
Pale lagers termed
helles
,
hell
,
Pils
or gold remain popular in Munich and Bavaria, with a local inclination to use low levels of hops, and an abv in the range 4.7% to 5.4%; Munich breweries which produce such pale lagers include
Lowenbrau
,
Staatliches Hofbrauhaus in Munchen
,
Augustiner Brau
,
Paulaner
, and
Hacker-Pschorr
, with
Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau
producing a 5.2% abv pale lager called
Spaten Munchner Hell
.
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
American lager
[
edit
]
The earliest known brewing of pale lager in the
United States
was in the
Old City
section of Philadelphia in 1840, by John Wagner, using yeast from his native Bavaria.
[13]
Modern
American lagers
are still widely made, in a market dominated by large breweries such as
Anheuser-Busch
and
Molson-Coors
(formerly
MillerCoors
). Lightness of body is the norm, both by design and since it allows the use of a high percentage of less expensive, light-bodied rice or
corn
.
Australian lager
[
edit
]
Beer from XXXX, various Tooheys' brands, Victoria Bitter (which is classified as a lager), West End, Swan, and
Foster's Lager
, are Australian lagers.
[14]
An
Australian lager
with an amber hue and slightly bitter flavour typically brewed with Pride of Ringwood hops or its descendants.
[15]
[16]
Dry beer
[
edit
]
The term "dry beer" has varied with time and region - and still does.
Though the term was not yet used, the first dry beer,
Gablinger's Diet Beer
, was released in 1967, developed by
Joseph Owades
at
Rheingold Breweries
in Brooklyn. Owades developed an enzyme that could further break down starches, so that the finished product contained fewer residual carbohydrates and was lower in
food energy
.
[17]
A marketing term for a fully attenuated pale lager, originally used in Japan by
Asahi Breweries
in 1987, "karakuchi"
(
辛口
,
dry
)
,
[18]
was taken up by the American brewer
Anheuser-Busch
in 1988 as "dry beer" for the Michelob brand,
Michelob Dry
.
[19]
This was followed by other "dry beer" brands such as
Bud Dry
, though the marketing concept was not considered a success.
[20]
In Australia, the term "Dry" is used for beers that are lower in carbohydrates.
[
citation needed
]
While all lagers are well
attenuated
, a more fully fermented (i.e. "dry") pale lager in Germany goes by the name
Diat-Pils
or
Diatbier
[
de
]
. "Diet" in the instance not referring to being "light" in calories or body, rather its sugars are fully fermented into alcohol, allowing the beer to be targeted to diabetics due to its lower carbohydrate content.
[21]
Because the available sugars are fully fermented, dry beers often have a higher alcohol content, which, if desired, may be reduced in the same manner as
low-alcohol beers
.
Since the 2012 revisions to the
Diatverordnung
[
de
]
(Ordinance on Dietetic Foodstuffs), it is no longer permitted to label beer as "Diat" in Germany, but it may be advertised as "suitable for diabetics". Prior to this change, a
Diatbier
could contain no more than 7.5 g of unfermented carbohydrates per liter (a typical lager contains 30-40 g/L), and the alcohol content could not exceed normal levels (5% ABV).
Strong lager
[
edit
]
Pale lagers that exceed an
abv
of around 5.8% are variously termed
bock
,
malt liquor
/super strength lager,
Oktoberfestbier
/
Marzen
, or European strong lager.
Bock
[
edit
]
Bock is a strong lager which has origins in the
Hanseatic
town of
Einbeck
in Germany. The name is a
corruption
of the
medieval
German brewing town of Einbeck, but also means billy goat (buck) in German. The original bocks were dark beers, brewed from highly roasted
malts
. Modern bocks can be dark, amber or pale in color. Bock was traditionally brewed for special occasions, often religious festivals such as
Christmas
,
Easter
or
Lent
.
Malt liquor
[
edit
]
Malt liquor is an American term referring to a strong pale lager brewed to an unnaturally high alcohol content through the addition of such high-carbohydrate adjuncts as corn, rice, and sugar. In the UK, similarly made beverages are called super-strength lager.
Oktoberfestbier/Marzen
[
edit
]
Oktoberfest
is a German festival dating from 1810, and
Oktoberfestbiers
are the beers that have been served at the festival since 1818, and are supplied by six breweries:
Spaten
,
Lowenbrau
,
Augustiner-Brau
,
Hofbrau-Munchen
,
Paulaner
and
Hacker-Pschorr
.
[22]
Traditionally Oktoberfestbiers were lagers of around 5.5 to 6 abv called
Marzen
, brewed in March and allowed to ferment slowly during the summer months. Originally these would have been
dark lagers
, but from 1872 a strong March brewed version of an amber-red
Vienna lager
made by Josef Sedlmayr became the favorite Oktoberfestbier.
[22]
Despite its origins, the color of Marzen - and thus Oktoberfestbier - has become ever lighter since the late 20th century, with many Oktoberfest beers brewed in Munich since 1990 being golden in color;
[22]
though some Munich brewers still produce darker versions, mostly for export to the United States.
[23]
Oktoberfestbier is a
registered trademark
of the big six Munich breweries, which call themselves the Club of Munich Brewers. Along with other Munich beer, it is protected by the
European Union
as a
Protected Geographical Indication
(PGI).
[24]
References
[
edit
]
Notes
- ^
"2022 Brewers Association Beer Style Guidelines"
.
Brewers Association
. Retrieved
April 14,
2022
.
- ^
"Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter?The birth of lager"
. Beerhunter.com
. Retrieved
8 April
2014
.
- ^
"Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter?Beer Styles: Pilsener/Pilsner/Pils"
. Beerhunter.com
. Retrieved
8 April
2014
.
- ^
"Roger Protz Complete Guide to World Beer"
. beer-pages.com. 4 December 2004
. Retrieved
8 April
2014
.
- ^
"all you need to know about beer"
. beer-pages.com. Archived from
the original
on 3 March 2016
. Retrieved
8 April
2014
.
- ^
"Helles"
. Germanbeerinstitute.com. Archived from
the original
on 10 April 2016
. Retrieved
8 April
2014
.
- ^
"Munchner Helles"
. German Beer Guide. 16 May 2002
. Retrieved
8 April
2014
.
- ^
a
b
Conrad Seidl (9 September 2011).
"Helles"
.
The Oxford Companion to Beer
. Oxford University Press. pp. 430?431.
ISBN
9780195367133
.
- ^
Larry Hawthorne.
"The Big Six"
. beerdrinkersguide.com.
- ^
Ronald Pattinson.
"Munich Breweries"
. europeanbeerguide.net.
- ^
"Spaten Munchner Hell"
. spaten.de.
- ^
"Spaten Munchner Hell / Munchen / Premium"
. ratebeer.com.
- ^
LaBan, Craig (19 February 2015).
"PA Brewers Take Aim at Teutonic Traditions"
.
TCA Regional News
. Chicago
. Retrieved
14 September
2016
.
- ^
"Ray's Rant: What happened to the good, old-fashioned Aussie lager?"
. 28 January 2016.
- ^
"Pride Of Ringwood Hops: The Variety From Down Under"
.
Kegerator.com
. 8 August 2017.
- ^
"Lagers to pale ales: Australian brewers look to classic beer styles"
. 14 November 2019.
- ^
www.truthinadvertising.org
- ^
Asahi Breweries | Products | Asahi Super Dry
Archived
29 June 2006 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Philip Van Munching, Beer Blast, pp 232-233, 1997,
ISBN
0-8129-6391-1
- ^
Philip Van Munching,
Beer Blast
, pp. 233?235, 1997,
ISBN
0-8129-6391-1
- ^
"Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter?Beer Styles: Diat Pils"
. Beerhunter.com
. Retrieved
8 April
2014
.
- ^
a
b
c
Conrad Seidl (9 September 2011).
The Oxford Companion to Beer
. Oxford University Press. pp. 624?625.
ISBN
9780195367133
. Retrieved
14 November
2012
.
- ^
Jackson, Michael
.
"Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter?The birth of lager"
. beerhunter.com
. Retrieved
4 May
2008
.
- ^
"Big Six Breweries in Munich"
. beerdrinkersguide.com
. Retrieved
4 May
2008
.
Bibliography
- Fix, George J.
Vienna Marzen Oktoberfest (Classic Beer Style)
, Brewers Publications, 1991,
ISBN
0-937381-27-6
- Miller, David.
Continental Pilsener (Classic Beer Style)
, Brewers Publications, 1990,
ISBN
0-937381-20-9
- Rickman, Darryl.
Bock (Classic Beer Style)
, Brewers Publications, 1994,
ISBN
0-937381-39-X