Gose is also soured with the aid of Lactobacillus, but has a couple other ingredients that make it quite unusual: coriander and salt. Pilsner was the world’s first pale, crystal clear lager and it changed the realm of beer forever. Mike Reis is a Certified Cicerone working as Operations Manager for California-based distributor Lime Ventures. But there's a lot of pleasure to be found in German beer, and it's time y'all got comfortable with the beer styles you'll run into at the store. Here's our quick and handy guide. Lager - Helles “Helles” means “pale in color,” as these beers are often golden. especially when these beers are paired with food, How Draft Systems Work: Getting Beer From Keg to Glass, How to Identify Hops in Your Beer: The Three C's. Log in. Fermented and stored in cool caves, the beers produced in the winter and early spring would eventually evolve into the modern dunkel ("dark") lager. How Draft Systems Work: Getting Beer From Keg to GlassThe Serious Eats Vermont Beer GuideHow to Identify Hops in Your Beer: The Three C'sBeer Issues: What's Up With the Three-Tier System?How to Host A Beer and Cheese Tasting PartyThe Flux Capacitor: A Tool for Better Beer on TapAging Beer: 6 Tips to Get You Started5 Brewing Terms Every Beer Drinker Should Know. Helles was born as an early German take on pilsner as well. Pull-apart tender meat and ultra-crisp skin: It's not the most gorgeous roast in the world, but you'd be hard pressed to find one more flavorful. Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest recipes and tips! None of these beers are hop driven in flavor and all should have a clean, neutral yeast flavor—they're really all about the malt. A specialty of the Franconian town of Bamberg, Germany, rauchbier is an unusually savory beer that you'll probably either love or hate. But the answer I gave her wasn't an easy one to land on. It's a little bit of wordplay—these beers originated in the town of Einbeck, Germany. My love for rauchbier is no secret (especially when these beers are paired with food), but it's a style that is certainly not for everyone. It is an easily drinkable beer, slightly more malty than hoppy and above all, clean and crisp. Your email address will not be published. In the warmer months, wild yeast and bacteria could thrive, leading to nasty, spoiled beer for the people. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy. Sadly, Vienna lager has since fallen out of popularity, but the tradition lives on to some degree in Mexico (yep, really! That name Einbeck got telephone-lined around a bit and ended up sounding sorta like "ein Bock," which translates to "a billy goat.". From the German word for “Bright”, our golden lager displays a floral hop aroma with a bready malt balance. What it lacks in sexy youth, German beer certainly makes up in quality and tradition. Maybe it's that lager doesn't seem that exciting, maybe it stems from shocking run-ins with rauchbier, or maybe it's just all the umlauts. These are doppelbocks that have had a portion of their water content removed via freezing. Weissbier, Märzen, the Dunkels, and the Bocks all have deep roots to Bavaria. Less hoppy than its Czech cousin, helles is a more malt-driven style that often leans toward the sweeter end of the spectrum. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Helles was born as an early German take on pilsner as well. Eisbock brewers will typically remove around 10% of the water content, leaving a massive, intense beer in the 9-14% ABV range. If you drop the temperature of a beer to between the freezing points of water and alcohol, the water will freeze, leaving just a boozy, concentrated beer behind. All of these beers are malty lagers with an amber-brown color imparted by nutty, bready, toasty Munich and Vienna malts. Two friends, Gabriel Sedlmayr from Munich and Anton Dreher from Vienna, released similar amber-colored lagers in their home towns and watched their respective Märzen and Vienna lagers rise to popularity. Less hoppy than its Czech cousin, helles is a more malt-driven style that often leans toward the sweeter end of the spectrum. The Helles-style Lager was originally developed around Munich in the late nineteenth century by Bavarian brewers to compete with the hugely popular Czech Pilsner. Traditional in style, Helles is brewed with Pilsner Malt to produce a dry, snappy finish while Perle and Tettnanger hops create a spicy, herbal hop aroma. Apart from pilsner, the Bavarian helles lager is the best-known light-coloured lager. The German … Helles means pale in German. Comments can take a minute to appear—please be patient! If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment. The same crisp skin and juicy meat as our classic recipe, but with a flavor-packed herb butter to coat it. Märzen (meaning March) takes its name from the frantic brewing that occurred in the month leading up to the summertime ban, but it and Vienna lager didn't emerge in their modern forms until the mid-1800s, with the isolation of lager yeast. Without an understanding of modern fermentation science, the lawmakers were unknowingly establishing a long future for German lager. How to Host A Beer and Cheese Tasting Party, The Flux Capacitor: A Tool for Better Beer on Tap, 5 Brewing Terms Every Beer Drinker Should Know, Crisp-Skinned Spatchcocked (Butterflied) Roast Turkey With Gravy, Herb-Rubbed Crisp-Skinned Butterflied Roast Turkey. If you're looking for an even bigger bock, find yourself an eisbock. To learn how this Bavarian … ), where Austrian immigrants settled in the late 1800s. Märzens are sometimes paler in color and dunkels are the darkest of the group, but that's the gist of it. But, there is one style that has overshadowed all the others and taken over the grand portion of the beer spotlight of the region. The result is … The defining characteristic is that the beer is made with a large portion of malt that's been smoked over the flames of a beechwood-fueled fire. The American beer drinking public sometimes forgets that. Expect flavor characteristics similar to those of doppelbock, but bigger. Way back in the 1500s, Bavarian lawmakers forbade the brewing of beer between April and September to ensure quality. The final product is cloudy, tart, and spicy and it's one of the most refreshing beers you can drink. Previously, he co-managed the beer program at San Francisco's Abbot's Cellar and The Monk's Kettle. Yesterday, my dear, sweet, 95-year-old grandma asked me if the Germans still make the best beer in the world. [Photographs: Mike Reis]. There is no doubt that the Germans do still make incredible beer. At any rate, something is scaring many folks away from zee German stuff. Some of Germany's finest. Learn more on our Terms of Use page. All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. It originated in 1842 Plzeň (Pilsen), a small town in Bohemia, today’s Czech Republic. This beer is Munich Helles. Boozy, fruity, and intense. Bavaria is known for its varied beer styles. So, why the goat? It was first brewed in 1894 by Späten from Munich and was the Bavarian answer to the successful Pilsner. Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. But, that’s not where this story starts. Some comments may be held for manual review. A pilsner is a style of lager beer – hands down the most famous one in the world. In fact, it could be argued that no other region in the world has quite the same relationship with beer. Follow him on Twitter @beerspeaks or find him behind a pint near you. Stunningly crisp skin, perfectly cooked breast and leg, and a flavorful gravy in one fell swoop. Beer Issues: What's Up With the Three-Tier System? Ever had a Negra Modelo? That should give you a pretty good idea as to how hip German beer is at this point (hint: it's really, really, unhip). Beers from Around the World: Imported Beers Worth Trying, Your 2020 Gift Guide for the Avid Homebrewer, Polaris: Germany’s High Alpha Special Flavor Hop, Original Helles from Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Lagerbier Hell from Augustiner-Bräu Wagner KG, Münchner Hell from Spaten Franziskaner Bräu, Rahr’s Blonde from Rahr & Sons Brewing Company, Golden Lager from Stoudts Brewing Company, House Lager from Jack’s Abbey Brewing Company.