I think everyone knows about the “German Beer Purity Law” – the law that limits the ingredients used in brewing to water, malt, hops and yeast. The result? The law has at least 2 effects: there is no room for too much innovation (i.e. bacon beer stays with the Americans) and everyone is trying to perfect very well defined beer styles, if there are 1000 breweries making weizen, then all 1000 breweries are trying to make the best weizen and the results are wonderful.
Helles beers
Helles beer is a light German beer, with little hops, perfect to drink on the terrace with friends. Usually is brewed in Munich, Germany, and it’s a low bitterness, full body beer with 4.7% to 5.3% alcohol by volume. It is pale in color and similar to Pilsners, but less hoppy.
It’s usually brewed with Pilsner malt, Munich malt, using cool fermentation with a lager yeast like Munich Helles Lager Yeast – WLP860 or Munich Lager – 2308, and German hops like Hallertau, Saaz, Spalt, and Tettnang.
Most common helles beers that you can buy in Europe are:
Pilsner
Everyone knows about Pilsner but you rarely get the chance to drink a real Pilsner – it’s a very clear and light colored beer, with a bit more hops than a regular Pale. Its the most common modern pale lager, but you can only drink the original in the Czech Republic in the city of Plzeň. So why it’s on a list of German beers?
Well, throughout the history the city of Plzeň was under German occupation. Also, because the Pilsen was “invented” by the bavarian brewer Josef Groll, who was commissioned to brew a beer using local ingredients: the local soft water, local Saaz hops and Moravian barley from the southeast Czech Republic. He obviously used the Bavarian-style lagering and this resulted in a very clear, lightly hopper beer.
Unlike the mode modern American Pilsner (that has less flavor, hops, and bitterness), in Europe you could either drink the Czech-style Pilsner or the real close cousin, the German-style Pilsner with more bitter and earthy taste.
Most common Czech Pilsner
- Pilsner Urquell,
- Budweiser Budvar,
- Gambrinus – made by Pilsner Urquell,
- Kozel,
- Radegast,
- Staropramen
Most common German-style Pilsner
- Bitburger,
- Flensburger,
- Fürstenberg,
- Holsten,
- Jever,
- König,
- Krombacher
Bock beer
Bock is a cold season beer – dark in color with more alcohol.
- Export – the export version of German beer – usually a beer with more alcohol and not much hops
- Schwarz – a dark beer with quality roasted malt to match the meat-heavy German menus…
- Fest Bier – festival beer – the most common OcktoberFest beer – made to drink in 1-liter pints
- Kolsch – a very clear, light-colored, aromatic beer that can only be made with Cologne water Alt – amber in color with quite a bit of hop bitterness
- Rauchbier – the traditional German smoked beer – beer that tastes like barbecue?
- Weizen – or what the Romanians refer to as unfiltered beer – a wheat beer, white in color, cloudy and very fragrant
And the much more fun and exciting explanation of German beer types comes on video:
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