Beyond Pilsner – Exploring the diverse range of lager styles

Lager beer, especially pilsner, is by far the most popular beer style worldwide. But lager yeast is far from a one trick pony. Within the lager category, there is a diverse range of unique beer styles to explore.

Shedding Light on Light Lagers

While the original light lager started with the Czech pilsner, you can now find a variety of distinct light lager styles brewed around the world. While Bohemian Pilsner is brewed with Czech Saaz hops with a very low mineral water, the German Pils style is adapted to more mineral water and other German hop varieties including Saazer, Tettnanger, Hallertauer, and Spalt. The Munich Helles style has lower IBU than German Pils and focusses more on the malt character. Dortmunder Export is a slightly stronger lager (5-6% abv) with similar character as Pils and Helles. Classic American Pilsner achieves a very light color and body compared to European styles due to the use of adjuncts such as corn or rice.

Darker Lagers

The character of caramel and roasted malts shines through in darker lagers due to the crisp and clean character of a lager yeast fermentation. Vienna Lager is light amber to red in color with toasty/malty aroma, whereas Traditional Bock brewed in Germany is a bit stronger with notes of caramel due to decoction mashing. Dark American Lager is an amber/brown version of a Classic American Pilsner, and California Common is a unique American style that ferments lager yeast warm to achieve a copper-colored beer with more fruity character. Darker brown lagers include the lighter bodied Schwarzbier and the full-bodied Munich Dunkel.

Stronger Lagers

By increasing the ABV, you can brew traditional German festival styles such as the amber/copper colored Marzen/Oktoberfest (~ 6% ABV), or a Maibock, which tends to be slighter stronger (~ 7% ABV), lighter in color, and hoppier. Doppelbock is a strong German lager that ranges from pale to dark with an ABV from 7-10%. Baltic Porter is a dark brown beer that is a stronger and smoother version of English porters and fermented with lager yeast to 7-10% ABV. For the technically savvy brewer, a strong, rich and malty Eisbock can be made by ice-distilling a traditional bock to up to 9-14% ABV.

Hoppy Lagers

With the ever-growing popularity of IPA, higher hop levels have found their way into lager styles as well. Brew an India Pale Lager (IPL) by increasing hop rates and incorporating more modern aromatic hop varieties. Or try brewing a Cold IPA, which uses high levels of adjuncts (rice/corn) and ferments with lager yeast at warmer temperatures.

Novel Lager Yeast for Any Lager Style

Most lager yeasts are genetically very similar, with the majority of commercial strains falling into the Type II (Frohberg) group. LalBrew NovaLager™ is the first commercial example of the novel Type III group of lager yeasts, which are genetically distinct. With a unique flavor profile and fermentation performance, LalBrew NovaLager™ can be used to brew modern interpretations of any traditional lager style.

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