Style family
Amber & dark lager
Lagers built on kilned and roasted malt, ranging from toasty amber through to near-black, but staying clean and drinkable.
What unites this family
Lager fermentation applied to a grist with significant kilned or roasted malt. The clean fermentation profile means the malt character reads clearly rather than being tangled up with fruit esters, which is what distinguishes these from brown and dark ales.
Bottom-fermented (lager). Fermented cool with Saccharomyces pastorianus, which settles out, then conditioned cold. The cooler process suppresses yeast-derived fruitiness, leaving malt and hop character exposed.
12 styles in this family
- Vienna lager
An amber lager built on gently kilned Vienna malt: toasty and lightly sweet, but finishing clean and dry.
- Märzen
A rich amber lager brewed in March for autumn drinking, with deep toasty malt and a clean, firm finish.
- Munich Dunkel
Deep brown Bavarian lager led by rich Munich malt — bready and gently chocolatey, without real roast bitterness.
- Schwarzbier
Nearly black but remarkably light on the palate: smooth roast, clean lager finish and none of the heaviness the colour suggests.
- Czech amber lager
A Bohemian amber lager balancing caramel malt against Saaz hop character, sitting between the pale and dark Czech beers.
- Czech dark lager
A dark Bohemian lager richer and sweeter than its German counterparts, with caramel and light roast over a soft body.
- International amber lager
A light, commercially-produced amber lager, most familiar in its Mexican form, with gentle caramel over a crisp body.
- International dark lager
A commercially-produced dark lager, light in body and gently sweet, with colour contributing more than flavour.
- Bock
A strong, dark, malt-dominated lager with deep bread-crust and toasty character and only enough hop to keep it from being sweet.
- Helles Bock
A pale, strong lager with the body of a bock but a brighter, more hop-balanced character — traditionally a spring beer.
- Doppelbock
Intensely malty strong lager, dense with bread crust, caramel and dark fruit, and remarkably clean for its strength.
- Eisbock
A doppelbock concentrated by partially freezing it and removing the ice, intensifying malt, body and alcohol together.