Anyone who “doesn’t like lager”; get yourself to Salzburg in Austria, get a cold glass of Stiegl whilst taking in your beautiful surroundings, take a big gulp and I defy you to say it again! 😍❤️
Very Interesting and comprehensive roundup and 99% on point! Being half Czech, currently living in Germany and micro brewery owner, Lagers are my absolute passion. The only part here that I feel is missing is a more in-depth description of the Franconian Kellerbier and Franconias impact overall as compared to Munich and the rest of Bavaria. Franconia is the only part of Germany where much of what mad German beer so famous is still practiced, with small local breweries in many villages (Such as the brilliant Pils you cracked open for this video) - it is so much more than Bamberg even though I love that city and its breweries. The Kellerbier basically varies from brewery to brewery which makes it incredibly complex and confusing - you never quite know what you will get but you can be damn sure that it’s going to be delicious. You should do a video tour of Franconia and deep dive into the incredible beer (and food) culture of this corner - it is 100 times more interesting than Munich. I’d be delighted to show you around and act as interpreter, just hit me up :-)
We all defiantly have gone through phases and taste changes, I am stuck on German style lagers, love to try new pilsners, dopple bock, Dunkel, ect! There is so much diversity in lagers, wide array of flavors but the main focus is the malt and how to express that in different ways! Cheers!
I love trying new things. Even when something is of a type I usually don't really like I tend to go with the idea that "you can't say you don't like it if you've never tried it" and give it a chance anyway.
If a brewery has a Schwarzbier on tap, I order it. Every time. I find it to be one of the most underrated styles here in the USA. People don't seem to understand the style of a black lager. It's unfortunate, because it is a flavorful style that doesn't fill you up. I can't get enough.
Totally agree. So underrated. It’s just a black pilsner essentially. If you ever have a chance to get Rennsteig from Schilling grab it. One of the best lagers I’ve ever had.
@lars2894 Unfortunately, there isn't much I can think of that is nationally available. Kostritzer is available in a lot of markets but is not always available. Your best bet is to look at your local breweries and see who is brewing it at the time. In my area, there are a couple of breweries(Rahr and Oak Cliff) that brew them regularly, but limited batches are the norm for most microbreweries.
I think I speak for everyone (from the CBC cult) that we need a building playlist called "Jonny's rants". Amazing video as always! I also love the growth in dynamics when its just Jonny, or Brad, and when both are together.
As a big Lager Fan I enjoyed every second of this trip through the Lager family. Thanks a lot. As always. Cheers and Prost - I will enjoy my Budvar now.
There are so many great lagers. My favourites are : Augustiner, Tegernseer, Bayreuther, Flensburger pils, Paulaner, Pilsner Urquell, Andechser, Ayinger, Jever and Engelbräu.
Preach 👏🙌. Had another trip to Prague and Plzen this summer with a friend. Just perfect. Some of the new discoveries this time was Pivovar Chroust and their pilsner called “Jura”. Great beer.
you should do a video on australian beers! mountain culture, range brewing, yulli's, molly rose, one drop, wildflower (!!!!!!), la sirene, and fox friday among others all consistently making great beers in a variety of styles
We should! We have had a fair amount of Wildflower and loved it, as well as Range (know one of the founders). But it's a LOOOOONG way to go. Will be a once in a lifetime trip
@@TheCraftBeerChannel awesome, looking forward to it (however long it happens to take). is australian beer available much over there? remember seeing little creatures pale ale (a beer brewed near me in perth) in a pub in north london last year and being shocked. love the channel guys!
One hopes you are talking about the craft beer scene as opposed to the macro breweries. I lived in Oz for many years and, years ago, the major breweries exclusively used bittering hops as most Australians drank their beer close to 0 degrees C and aroma hops would have been futile. Also, the climate of mainland Australia is not conducive to growing quality aroma hops. Fortunately, Australia underwent a beer revolution and aroma hops began to be grown in a more suitable environment such as in Tasmania and craft beers also exploded onto the market using exotic hops and the introduction of heretofore unknown or unfamiliar beer styles available for real beer afficionados as opposed to the historic beer yobbos who drank because they were and whose sole intention was to get pissed. I was very fortunate to be in the west at the birth of Little Creatures and the introduction of the very much hop forward American pale ales to the discerning consumer. I also appreciated James Boag's recreation of the Czech style pils using Tasmanian grown hops. However, that was all many years ago and I have no current knowledge on today's scene.
Fantastic video. The production keeps moving upward; great to see. The graphics onscreen here are really good and I like these more dynamic editing choices. Oh and also the content was great.
Thanks for the education! I thought the main difference between the lager family and ale family was cold fermentation, but as always, these videos teach me more. Also, as a Berkshire native, great shout out to the Berkshire beer scene with two beers, the county really is beer tourism worthy now. That Phantom series has been really fun to follow, and Ten is a great example of its type.
Just turned the last page of your book and I loved it. It was very educational, fun, well put and straight to the point. I have read some other books on beer but this one now is my favorite. Just as this is my favorite RU-vid channel. Thank you so very much for throwing me straight into the rabbit hole of craft beer. Educating me but always leaving me wanting to know more. keep it up you amazing humans
I said I wasn't a lager fan, my brother made me brew one 100% to recipe. I've never looked back. I go through more lager than anything else since. There's a reason it's the worlds most popular... _style_ 😈
Brilliant video gents! Came full circle to really appreciate a well crafted Lager. Recently brewed a Vienna Lager and a Dortmunder Export. Tried a smoked black lager from Braybrooke at the White Horse Edwardstone last time I was there which was delicious. Cannot wait to try the Festbier you've brewed with Lost & grounded at your festival! Prost!
@@TheCraftBeerChannel Great video Jonny... to expand on the thread, I have been home brewing pilsner style beers for a few years (at request of neighbours) using Fermentis 34/70 - excellent yeast, and incredibly versatile... can be used at a wide temp range (including traditional ale fermenting temps), and I have used it to great effect for IPAs, pale ales etc. I think there's some excellent examples of British breweries doing a range of lagers well - Elvington Brewery, Utopian, Lost and Grounded to name a few. Final point from me is that some of the newer British hops work very well in Pilsners - particularly Jester. Works equally as well as Saaz imho🍻
I started to love lager after I came back to it. When I started drinking beer I wasn’t used to the taste (is anyone?) and enjoyed more of the fruity flavoured ales and novelty beers. I tried as many different ones as I could, ones that were very different and had so many different flavours until I almost burned out on it. And found myself coming back to a fairly plain family of lagers which to my surprise, after drinking nothing but ale for a few months, I loved. And it’s now my go to beer
This is a really good video, I knew about how lager is an overall family of beer and gets a bad rap especially in the US (bud light) but it's so refreshing to hear about just how wide a range the style has. I was in Cardiff this past spring and was at Tiny Rebel brewing and they had an awesome mural in one of their corners that depicts all of the different types of beer and how they are connected.
I think when people know the history of different lager styles it can really help to drive interest. When I first got into craft beer, I looked down on American and Mexican-style lagers because of the adjuncts. It wasn't until I realized *why* those adjuncts were used in the first place (no access to high quality grain) that I started to appreciate those styles and lagers as a whole.
I so appreciate these videos! Funny, I just saw a documentary on the development of beer in the US that covered the problems that Pabst, Best, and Schlitz had. One of the big problems was shelf life on top of the barley issues. It was a really interesting watch!
Great presentation,summation of lager styles, my personal favourites are basically anything traditionally German or Czech brewed with quality water and ingredients, pils,kellerbiers are amongst my favourites and anything with "ur" in the title also, I'm from Ireland and its very hard to find a good lager here brewed without wheat added, could you maybe explain the reason you think these brewers add wheat when Germans and Czechs rarely do , I can guess it gives a smoother body, but is it as I suspect easier to brew with less to go wrong, or cheaper to brew a lager this way, my local brewer kinnegar adds wheat to most of its lighter coloured beers and rarely offers an all barley lager for sale, Im again guessing this is because of the difficulty in brewing as they also use tap water to brew their beers, thanks🍻
Really interesting and as usual helping me broaden my beer knowledge. As a result of you championing lagers, whenever I'm doing a beer order, I try to pick up a lager style (usually pilsner or helles) from the brewery to see what it's like and I've had some really nice ones so far - Vocation's Hebden Lager and Padstow Brewing Company's Oktoberfest Bier come to mind!
Rothaus Tannenzäpfle is by far my favorite lager. Would not have made it through my studies without it (Baden Württemberg). Andechser and Tegernseer Helles are very very very close though, but they don't have the bite of my beloved Tannenzäpfle :) - GREAT VIDEO btw!
I've just whipped up a Vienna Lager for competition and it has made me fall in love with the style but I have been taking full advantage of Paulaner Helles in Tesco of late 😅
I have questions: if I have an oaky-tasting Lager, do I call it a Logger? If I take a Czech Lager to a banker, can I call it a Cash-Lager? If I combined two ales in Wales, does that that qualify as a Twales? Two Lagers walk into a bar and one asks the bartender for a Lager and the other one says 'What... I'm not good enough for you?'
G'day from Aus, thanks so much for your content, I've been watching for years now. I'm a pro brewer and find it very very helpful. One thing I'd love is if you can list the beers in the description if you can! Maybe even link the brewery? Sometimes its hard pausing videos and trying to find the beer, especially when I want to learn as much as I can! Thanks again, this content is something I watch and share with other brewers, bar staff and beer lovers. Cheers, J
Great video! Just 2 things. A Märzen ist called Märzen because before it was possible to cool the beer all year around the last possible month to brew was march. They made the beer stronger so it had a longer shelflife. And there is no Dortmunder Pils. The beer from Dortmund ist called Export and has nothing to do with a northern german pils. It is much more sweet and has a little bit more alcohol.
West Coast Pilsner has been my fave style for about 5 months now. That's what we're calling them here in NZ, as they can have other American hops (eg mosaic) added to that citra. The style is quite similar to the NZ Pilsner, which has NZ hops (typically riwaka or nelson sauvin) instead of US hops. Whether WC or NZ, they're both delicious!
Great video. I have been watching your channel for a long time. You are a great fluent speaker, do you keep notes on the site to remind you where you are or do you go with the flow? I love the lack of quick edits and just real deep knowledge and passion. Cheers. Lager* fan myself so couldn’t click fast enough.
Thanks so much! We only really use notes when it's historical stuff like our Trappist video - when it comes to straight up beer knowledge it's mostly in our heads already. That said, there are a LOT of takes to get it right...
I utterly love lagers. Especially Bock in any variation. Bock needs more love. And I can find a Baltic Porter in my local supermarket. Neener neener ;) Cheers! Lovely video as always.
I think when most people say they "don't like lager", it can be safe to say they're not very fond of beer at all since common American adjunct lagers already have, and are known for, their suttle flavour notes.
Perfect Video, there are so many underrated styles here in Germany. But I'm not sure if i got it right, but did you say Jever is brewed in the Dortmunder style? I always thought, that Dortmunder meant Dortmunder Export and so it wouldn't be a Jever, cause thats a northern German pils, which means it's just less sweet and more hoppy bitter and more dry than the southern or Czech ones. An Export therefor would be a bit stronger in it's abv and at the same time a bit more hoppy and malty than the usual Pils. Correct me if I'm wrong! Cheers!
Started at lager, then got into to IPA/NEIPA/pastry stouts/different sour styles, ended the journey with enjoying a classical german pils or a czech lager again. A pale lager is the foundation of beer. Its the heart of beer. I realized its the best thing ever.
Luca is both right and wrong. Before Pilsner Urquell invented Pale Lager there were both ales and lagers all over the world depending on what wild yeast was dominant in nature in that region. In the UK it was all ales, but in Bohemia it was (mostly) lager, though wheat beer was also huge. But pale lager is the foundation of modern beer because the pursuit to brew the perfect one - pale, clear, clean ferment, cold conditioning - resulted in the processes that ALL modern breweries use, as well as several other incredible inventions. This is literally the topic of my next book (or at least about half of it). So stay tuned!
@@TheCraftBeerChannel Ok I understand this, but is it really modern beer meant to be pale, clear, clean ferment? It doesn't seem to me. Maybe mass produced beers, but all the craft breweries doonig IPAs, Hazies, Sours like he was saying, has nothing to do with pale lagers in my eyes. And don't get me wrong, I love them, Czech lagers are probably my favourite style of beer overall, but what has in common with a NEIPA?
@lucaparolin5623 I didn't mean that pale lagers is the foundation for everyone. But it is for me. And I tried to explain my beer journey, not to compare the different styles. 😊❤️
From someone who is working on opening a lager brewery, thank you 🙏 keep preaching the lager gospel! I think you kinda touched on it a little bit when talking about the differences...but it would be nice if you went more in depth about what makes them different. Like why do we need both? If lager and ale can produce very similar styles why do we use the two different yeast strains? It's more obvious when you're talking about something like weissbier. BIG banana and clove ester character. There's no lager style you can really compare it to. But when you take west coast Pils, and American pale ale....it gets pretty blurry. I'd like to hear your opinions on that. Like a comparison of similar styles across the yeast spectrum or something. Perhaps blind 🤔
Brilliant explanation, I learned a lot from this. I've always said "I'm not a fan of lager" and I think that, generally, that is true going on the various styles you showcased. However, that's not to say I don't like them - baltic porters, the Czech styles in particular I like. But generally, I'd rather go for an ale.
Great video! Would you ever consider a live tasting of beer styles as opposed to breweries (I don't believe you have done one). It might be a bit more niche but working through the above would be fascinating to explore all variants of a style.
So you mean a live show digging into one specific style or family, rather than a brewery? We could def do that! We've done some a little like that (an Oktoberfest one for example) already
Yes, so you start with a genesis / quintessential beer and then expand from that... Altering malt bill to darker malts leads to 'X', Different hop additions leads to 'Y' etc @@TheCraftBeerChannel. Very good point, forgot the Oktoberfest.
When I lived in the UK 16 years ago I would hear 3 things ordered at the bar, Lager, Bitter and Cider. Which was strange to me because at that stage I have tried hundreds of beers and there were many verities of each, how do you know which Lager you're getting? Then I tried "British lager" which was basically a tiny step up from American lager.
11:48 Despite the name Dortmunder, you wouldn't get it in Northern Germany at all. The only place in Germany where Export is the standard beer that is the flagship of every brewery is Upper Swabia, so the southernmost region. In Dortmund lackluster Pils rules supreme, like in all of Northern Germany. Also Dortmunder shouldn't be dry *at all*. It's Northern German Pilseners that are light bodied and dry, Jever is the prototype of that, like you said.
Before craft beer, I didn't like lager. The first thing i learned on my craft beer journey was wow lager is amazing and varied! And so were the second and third things. I love those slightly hazy less filtered lagers that are almost a little sour.
I’m having a delicious helles lager from rohrbach brewery out of Rochester New York as I watch on a beautiful Friday evening here in Lewiston New York 👍🏻🍻
I love your comment anticipation. From a fellow beer sommelier and beer judge I salute you for this video. I would urge you to try the riegele commerzienrat for converting people to lager. Greetings from Switzerland.
Altbier is absolutely an ale. Some of the brewpubs even call themself „obergärige Hausbrauerei“ (top fermenting brewery). Cold storing doesn’t miraculously turn it into a lager. Same with Kölsch. Btw when will you guys finally visit Düsseldorf and Cologne? At this point I feel personally offended every time you upload a new video from Bavaria. Don’t forget our version of gravity served „real ale“. Greetings from Düsseldorf
Yes, I understand, but, saying "I don't like lagers" still conveys exactly what I wan't, even to you. Everyone that understands the sentence understands that I'm not talking about dunkel, bock and even pilsner, but about macro-lagers. Loved the video, but I'm still saying I don't like lagers.
Completely on your page here. Actually thinking of it, I do not think that there is a literal translation for Lager in German, we have Helles, Pils etc. but there is no category on top of that to subsume all of those (at least none that I know of). Now here there is a distinction between Obergärig and Untergärig (top fermenting and bottom fermenting), where Obergärig ist similar to what you described as an Ale and Untergärig is what you described as a Lager, however: Kölsch, Alt and Wheat are definatliy Obergärig. They might get stored (to store in German is "lagern" - the actual verb), as you mentioned, before they are served, but they are more similar to an Ale by the micro organisms. Tricky one, if you store a top fermenting beer, can it fall into the Lager category? Not sure though about Jever being a Dortmunder. Dortmunder Export is a beer that has typically not a lot of taste but a higher amount of alcohol. I would argue it is close to a Helles. Jever is distinct because it is quite mineral in taste and has a unusual high abv for a Lager (like many norther German beers do) ... (also Dortmund is not in the north) but it does not have a high alcohol content, normal 4.9% alcohol. A Dortmunder Export should have around 6% of alcohol.
Love the video, lager is so much more than blant macro style pilsner. It is funnt how it can be so hard to get hold of a baltic porter in the UK, when just over here in Denmark, quite a handfull breweries has it in their core range, even to the dergree that you can almost always be sure to find Limfjordsporter in your local grocery store, even in thos with no real beer aisle.
Yeah I know, I still thinks it is funny, and beatiful, that beer still is so regional, in some aspects, when so many other things are very globalized : )
Since last year I really became a huge fan of Tmavé and Schwarzbier. Both great styles of which I slightly prefer the Tmavé. And both styles that are talked about way too less imo.
I’ve got a new one for ya, that I’ve seen lately in the bottle shops……a west coast Pilsner or lager! Don’t know if i should laugh or cry 😂😵💫. I’m in western New York State
Started getting into craft beer over the pandemic, went through the IPA/pastry stout phase fairly early on and have now circled back to lager. From what I can tell this seems to be the journey every craft beer drinker goes on 😂
Yes. But you went to it very quickly. That would tell me it is more due to the beer culture at the moment. Everyone is lager crazy right now. Including myself.
I feel like Lager will forever have that stigma of the macro breweries attached to it and really is difficult to shake that mentality out of the general population, as to the non beer geek layman the conversation will go as follows: "Oh I've lager before, it was shit", "Cool, and what beer did you have?" "Fosters" All I have to say to that is... "Bad call"
Most people who "don't like lager" are saying that to be snobby because most cheap beers (especially in the US where I'm from) are "lagers" and they want to sound like they're "only into good beer." In reality they just don't understand what lager really is.
@TheCraftBeerChannel lots of small breweries in the US are starting to produce great lager too. A local favorite of mine is an Italian Pilsner by Rockport Brewing Company in Massachusetts called Rockport Piscato. It is excellent! They also make a great märzen that comes out around this time of year.
For years, I've dismissed anyone who says they "Don't like lager". Perhaps those days when Dortumunder Union was available at Trust House Forte Hotels, set me on the right path. Seems I was correct.
Think that this sort of video is great. Giving a broad view of what the lager family of beer is , is very cool. You guy should really keep beer taxonomy videos going as series.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel I’d love to see a video on the history of hop varieties and an explanation of the flavours each brings to a beer either single hopped or in combination e.g why do breweries choose to pair certain varieties?
There are many culprits responsible for the corruption of the word “lager”. The Food Lover’s Companion has a section on beer that’s notable for its misinformation and ignorance. One especially shameful example: “Ale is typically stronger than beer and more bitter in flavor because of the hops”. Thanks for helping to clear up the confusion and highlighting those delicious lager styles.
Super interesting wasn't a big lager style drinker until i got covid and then wasn't and still not able to drink any more than a few of the ipa style I loved, since then, I love Helles, Märzen, Kolsch especially would drink a dunkel and darker styles in the winter not sure this is correct but something I've always done with stouts and heavy English ales, cheers 🍻
The mahrs brau hell, grief edel pils, the Tucher rotbier and the Maibock were imported into the UK by us at Elitebeers. I'm guessing you got that from one of our customers in London.
I would love to get access to a better variety of beers for home consumption. do you have a recommendation for an online craft beer store with a great variety and reasonable prices?
I love ales and lagers, though I tend towards ales. But that's entirely situational. At a local Oktoberfest? I'm drinking lagers. But I do find when I'm feeling the buzz, ales wire me up while lagers make me feel sleepy. Idk what the science is there or if anyone feels the same.
Yup I love lagers, my favourite style of beer Baltic porter, but I don't really get on well with pilsners and similar styles, though some do break that guideline though haha
Your bit about Elusive’s Citra Pils touched on something I’ve been thinking about as well - what constitutes a new, unique, stand alone beer style? I’ve never had the Elusive Citra Pils but if all they did was take a traditional Pilsner recipe and brewing method but throw in some non-Noble hops, is that enough to christen it a new style? When Anheuser Busch added corn to its Pilsner recipe (violating the Reinheitsgebot), did that make it a new style or just a slight variation on a traditional style? In my view a brewer has to do more than switch out one ingredient to create a new style.
Very nice video! The only thing that got me slightly puzzled was the bit about Dortmunder. Coming from Northern Germany, I've never heard Jever being described as a 'Dortmunder' style of beer. I associate 'Dortmunder' more with Dortmunder export and their slightly higher ABV. Jever, on the other hand, is together with Flensburger usually considered to be the quintessential Northern German pilsner: dry, bitter, hoppy, with an ABV of 5% or slightly under. 'Northern German' here meaning something like 'Coastal Regions', not 'everything north of Bavaria'. Delicious stuff in my opinion and one of the most distinctive German non-Bavarian beer styles, but then of course I have some sentinmental attachement to it because it is my home region. Anyway, it's all just nomenclature and maybe the British categorization ist simply different. Just my two cents. Keep up the good work!
You are totally right, and I'm blurring two styles here a little, but tbh I feel like Dortmunders are essentislly export strength north German pilsners. They both exhibit the same character to me save for the extra body and sweetness that comes with the higher abv. Maybe I over simplified here.
@@TheCraftBeerChannel Well, categorization is always simplification. Otherwise you end up with as many categories as there are beers. ;-) Plus the Ruhrgebiet has some beers that fit all the characteristics of the Jever/Flens family except the origin. Moritz Fiege Pilsner is what I have in mind here.
I generally brew hazy pales sub 5% ..but for my friends who will only drink lager, I brew American cream ales, they smash them...I actually use NZ hops so maybe it isn't a NZ pilsner....I note your brew kit is very clean and not currently in use😎 That's what I've brewed today.
it's just a kind of mental shortcut - if someone says lager and attributes anything to it - it usually by default means international-pale-tasteless-smellless-made-in-HGB-process-lager. which is obviously something completely different than proper lager of one of the kinds that you mentioned. hello from Poland
@@TheCraftBeerChannel it even goes further than that. For vast majority of casual drinkers in central Europe eurolager is equivalent of beer in general because they don't know any other styles and if they happen to try anything else it's usually too bitter :)) so they call eurolager just "beer". Anything that goes beyond is not a beer for them. So I'd say that problem with lager is just the beginning :)))
#Sagely nods in agreement. "Lager Avengers Assemble!" or something ... 🍻 Really must get round to doing a decoction video, but not sure that my channel needs a 14 hour brew day live video! 😂
In all seriousness: I do like some lagers, but I don't like the lager flavour and pretty much always prefer an ale over a lager. In my opinion any of those lagers can be improved with high fermentation instead of lagering. Like how you can make something delicious with fake meat, but real meat would simply make it better.
Long overdue vid; lager is great and incredibly varied. I also get triggered by dumb lager statements. As for Baltic Porters (one of my favourite styles), aside from Kernel's fine offering, I recommend Teodorico by Birra Mastino from Italy. Great name, great beer, from a country that thankfully has not succumbed to the haze craze.
To enjoy lagers properly and understand how different lagers are significantly different from each other, you probably should try out all possible beer types including strongly hopped IPAs. I saw the very first video you did about this and until that, I also used to say that I don't like lager. So, I kept drinking craft Ales mostly and good German Weissbiers before and started to try different lagers only trusting your word. Then I actually started to love lagers as my experience with differently hopped Ales and the beer-tasting skills I gathered through Ales were quite useful when noticing the qualities of different lagers. Studying the history of each beer and enjoying the culture around it make things even more interesting and enjoyable about beers! So, I watch every video on your channel! I learnt about the "Italian Pilsner" style today. Sounds a bit like Northern German Pilsner??
Yes yes, its friday again. Enjoying holiday wile making vegan burgers. Traditions never break, not even on holiday! Enjoying a Maallust “zware jongen” tripel. Learning a thing or two about lager. Awesome! Cheers everyone 🍻