Pale lager is a pale -to- golden lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness .
31-656: Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils ) is a type of pale lager . It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň ( German : Pilsen ), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell ) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewery . The city of Plzeň was granted brewing rights in 1307. Until the mid-1840s, most Bohemian beers were top- fermented . The Pilsner Urquell Brewery, originally called in German : Bürger-Brauerei Pilsen ( Czech : Měšťanský pivovar Plzeň , English: Plzeň Citizens' Brewery ),
62-513: A pilsner may have a very light, clear colour from pale to golden yellow, with varying levels of hop aroma and flavour. The alcohol strength of beers termed pilsner vary but are typically around 4.5%–5% (by volume). There are categories such as "European-Style Pilsner" at beer competitions such as the World Beer Cup . Pilsner style lagers are marketed internationally by numerous small brewers and larger conglomerates. Pale lager In
93-529: A 5.2% abv pale lager called Spaten Münchner Hell . 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. 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
124-409: A more stable and consistent lager 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
155-456: A strong March brewed version of an amber-red Vienna lager made by Josef Sedlmayr became the favorite Oktoberfestbier. Despite its origins, the color of Märzen - 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; though some Munich brewers still produce darker versions, mostly for export to
186-545: Is a traditional style brewed in Munich and popular throughout Bavaria. With alcohol concentrations of 4.5% to 6.0% by volume, dunkels are weaker than doppelbocks , another traditional dark Bavarian beer. Dunkels are produced using Munich malts, which give the dunkel its color. Other malts or flavors may also be added. Many dunkels have a distinctive malty flavor that comes from a special brewing technique called decoction mashing . Most commonly, dunkel beers are dark lagers, but
217-508: Is a word used for several types of dark German lager . Dunkel is the German word meaning "dark", and dunkel beers typically range in color from amber to dark reddish brown. They are characterized by their smooth, malty flavor. In informal terms, such as when ordering at a bar, "dunkel" is likely to mean whatever dark beer the bar has on tap, or sells most of; in much of north and western Germany, especially near Düsseldorf , this may be Altbier . In Bavaria , dunkel, along with helles ,
248-561: Is the norm, both by design and since it allows the use of a high percentage of less expensive, light-bodied rice or corn . Some American lagers are brewed as calorie-reduced light beers . Beer from XXXX, various Tooheys' brands, Victoria Bitter (which is classified as a lager), West End, Swan, and Foster's Lager , are Australian lagers. An Australian lager with an amber hue and slightly bitter flavour typically brewed with Pride of Ringwood hops or its descendants. The term "dry beer" has varied with time and region - and still does. Though
279-590: Is where Pilsen beer was first brewed. Brewers had begun aging beer made with cool fermenting yeasts in caves ( lager , i.e., German : gelagert [stored]), which improved the beer's clarity and shelf-life . Part of this research benefited from the knowledge already expounded on in a book (printed in German in 1794, in Czech in 1799) written by Czech brewer František Ondřej Poupě (German: Franz Andreas Paupie ) (1753–1805) from Brno . The Plzeň brewery recruited
310-507: The Reinheitsgebot (1516). As such, it is the first "fully codified and regulated" beer. Its ABV is rarely higher than 5.5%, and it has low bitterness, a distinctive dark color, and a malty flavor. Dunkel is brewed using lager yeasts . Lighter-colored lagers were not common until the later part of the 19th century when technological advances made them easier to produce. Dunkel is also widespread in parts of Franconia , for example
341-665: The Bavarian brewer Josef Groll (1813–1887) who, using the local ingredients, produced the first batch of pale lager on 5 October 1842. The combination of Plzeň's remarkably soft water, local Saaz noble hops from nearby Žatec , low-protein Moravian barley malt prepared by indirectly heated kilning, and Bavarian -style lagering produced a clear, golden beer. By 1853, the beer was available at 35 pubs in Prague . In 1856, it came to Vienna and in 1862 to Paris. In 1859, Pilsner Bier
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#1732783043704372-529: 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. Initially other Munich breweries were reluctant to brew pale-coloured beer, though, as
403-579: The Spaten Brewery in Germany, and started to modernize continental brewing methods. In 1842, a new modern lager brewery Měšťanský pivovar was built in Plzeň ( German : 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 . This beer proved so successful that other breweries followed
434-603: The United States. 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). Notes Bibliography Dunkel Dunkel ( German: [ˌdʊŋkl̩] ), or Dunkles ( German: [ˈdʊŋkləs] ),
465-625: The alcohol content could not exceed normal levels (5% ABV). Pale lagers that exceed an abv of around 5.8% are variously termed bock , malt liquor /super strength lager, Oktoberfestbier / Märzen , or European strong lager. 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
496-458: The beers that have been served at the festival since 1818, and are supplied by six breweries: Spaten , Löwenbräu , Augustiner-Bräu , Hofbräu-München , Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr . Traditionally Oktoberfestbiers were lagers of around 5.5 to 6 abv called Märzen , brewed in March and allowed to ferment slowly during the summer months. Originally these would have been dark lagers , but from 1872
527-591: 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
558-523: The first pale lager Pilsner Urquell in 1842. 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. Pale lagers tend to be dry, lean, clean-tasting and crisp. Flavors may be subtle, with no traditional beer ingredient dominating
589-502: The late 19th century eliminated the need for caves for beer storage, enabling the brewing and storing of cool fermenting beer in many new locations. Until 1993 the Pilsner Urquell brewery fermented its beer using open barrels in the cellars beneath their brewery. This changed in 1993 with the use of large cylindrical tanks. Small samples are still brewed in a traditional way for taste comparisons. A modern pale lager termed
620-400: 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. Bavarian brewers in the sixteenth century were required by law to brew beer only during
651-406: The name Diät-Pils or Diätbier [ 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. Because the available sugars are fully fermented, dry beers often have a higher alcohol content, which, if desired, may be reduced in
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#1732783043704682-487: 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 . Pale lager was developed in the mid 19th-century, when Gabriel Sedlmayr took some British pale ale brewing techniques back to
713-598: 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 . 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 Löwenbräu , Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München , Augustiner Bräu , Paulaner , and Hacker-Pschorr , with Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu producing
744-487: The same manner as low-alcohol beers . Since the 2012 revisions to the Diätverordnung [ de ] (Ordinance on Dietetic Foodstuffs), it is no longer permitted to label beer as "Diät" in Germany, but it may be advertised as "suitable for diabetics". Prior to this change, a Diätbier could contain no more than 7.5 g of unfermented carbohydrates per liter (a typical lager contains 30-40 g/L), and
775-409: The term is also used to refer to dark wheat beers such as Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel. Dunkel weizen is another term used to refer to dark wheat beers, which are fruity and sweet with more dark, roasted malts than their lighter counterpart, the hefeweizen . Dunkels were the original style of the Bavarian villages and countryside, and it was the most common style at the time of the introduction of
806-579: 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 . A marketing term for a fully attenuated pale lager, originally used in Japan by Asahi Breweries in 1987, "karakuchi" ( 辛口 , dry ) ,
837-632: The town breweries grouped together to export the beer beyond the town, the brand name Dortmunder Export became known. Today, breweries in Denmark, the Netherlands, and North America also brew pale lagers labelled as Dortmunder Export. " 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,
868-486: 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. 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
899-630: Was registered as a brand name at the Chamber of Commerce and Trade in Plzeň. In 1898, the Pilsner Urquell trademark was created to put emphasis on being the original brewery ( Urquell, meaning 'original source'). Some beers are labeled Urtyp Pilsener (UP) meaning they are brewed according to the original process, although many breweries use this accolade for their top beer. The introduction of modern refrigeration to Germany by Carl von Linde in
930-541: Was taken up by the American brewer Anheuser-Busch in 1988 as "dry beer" for the Michelob brand, Michelob Dry . This was followed by other "dry beer" brands such as Bud Dry , though the marketing concept was not considered a success. In Australia, the term "Dry" is used for beers that are lower in carbohydrates. While all lagers are well attenuated , a more fully fermented (i.e. "dry") pale lager in Germany goes by
961-508: Was traditionally brewed for special occasions, often religious festivals such as Christmas , Easter or Lent . 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. Oktoberfest is a German festival dating from 1810, and Oktoberfestbiers are