A Map of German Beer Styles
German Beer, Oktoberfest & the Reinheitsgebot
Course 1 · Chapter 5 · A Map of German Beer Styles
Germany does not have one kind of beer. It has dozens, and many of them belong to a place: a city that guards its own recipe, a region that drinks nothing else, a town where the local brewery is the centre of social life. This chapter is a guided tour of the main styles, grouped by family and tied to the places that made them. It is a cultural map, not a tasting list: the point is to show how the story of the earlier chapters (grain, hops, yeast, law) produced such variety, and why people care about local differences. It builds on the lager and ale divide in German Beer, Oktoberfest & the Reinheitsgebot 4. Descriptions are given from general knowledge and flagged where they should be checked.
The Lagers
The great majority of beer brewed in Germany is lager, and the styles differ mainly in colour, strength and hopping.
| Style | Character | Place and note |
|---|---|---|
| Pils (Pilsner) | Pale gold, clear, noticeably bitter and hoppy | Czech in origin (see Chapter 4); the most widely drunk style in Germany, with a dry, crisp northern version (check) |
| Helles | Pale, soft, malt-led and gently hopped | Munich's everyday beer, created in the late nineteenth century, partly as an answer to Pilsner (check the date) |
| Dunkel | Dark brown, malty, smooth | The traditional Bavarian lager before pale beers took over (check) |
| Märzen | Amber, malty, medium strong | Linked to March brewing and summer storage (see Chapter 4) and to Oktoberfest (see Chapter 7; check) |
| Export | Golden, a little stronger and fuller than Helles | Associated with Dortmund and the Ruhr, a brewing and industrial region (check) |
| Schwarzbier | Very dark but light-bodied, with a roasted note | Associated with Thuringia and Saxony (check) |
| Bock and Doppelbock | Strong, rich, malty; Doppelbock stronger still | Bock is linked to the northern town of Einbeck (see Chapter 2); Doppelbock to monks in Munich, who brewed it for fasting seasons, and many names end in -ator (check) |
| Kellerbier and Zwickel | Unfiltered, cloudy lager served from the cellar or tank | Strongly associated with Franconia and the beer garden tradition (check) |
The Wheat Beers
Wheat beer, or Weizen, is brewed with a large share of malted wheat and top-fermenting yeast, giving a cloudy, fruity beer with notes often described as banana and clove (check the description). Its history in Bavaria is bound up with the royal privilege described in Chapter 3. After the privilege ended in the nineteenth century, Weizen spread, and it grew very popular in the later twentieth century (check).
- Hefeweizen. The classic cloudy version, left with its yeast. Hefe means yeast.
- Kristallweizen. A filtered, clear version (check).
- Dunkelweizen. Dark wheat beer.
- Weizenbock. A strong wheat beer.
The Regional Ales
A few German cities kept brewing ale after lager took over, and each made its style a point of civic pride.
Kölsch (Cologne)
A pale, clean, lightly hoppy ale, conditioned cold, and served in small straight glasses called Stangen. The name is protected by a local agreement among Cologne brewers (check the 1986 Kölsch Convention and its legal basis). Only breweries in and near Cologne make it.
Altbier (Düsseldorf)
A copper-brown, bitter, malty ale. Alt means old, referring to the old ale-brewing method that came before lager. Düsseldorf's brewpubs serve it fresh from the barrel, and the city's rivalry with Cologne is a stock joke (check).
Rauchbier (Bamberg)
Beer made from malt dried over beechwood smoke, with a distinct smoky taste often compared to bacon. A speciality of Bamberg in Franconia, a city with an unusually large number of breweries for its size (check the claim).
Weizen in the south
Though wheat beer is found across Germany, Bavaria is its heartland, and a Weizen glass is tall and curved to hold the foam.
The Old Sour Styles
Two northern and eastern styles show what German beer was like before the purity order and before lager. Both are top-fermented, low in alcohol and sour.
- Berliner Weisse. A pale, tart, low-alcohol wheat beer from Berlin, traditionally served with a shot of fruit or herb syrup. It was once Berlin's favourite drink, and a nineteenth-century saying compared it to champagne of the north, a phrase that is sometimes attributed to Napoleon's soldiers (check this story, which is likely a legend).
- Gose. A sour, lightly salty wheat beer from the Goslar area, then Leipzig, flavoured with coriander (check the history). It nearly died out in the twentieth century and has been revived by craft brewers (check).
Both lie outside the strict reading of the purity law, which is why their revival is part of the story in Chapter 10.
Beer Mixes and Newcomers
| Drink | What it is |
|---|---|
| Radler | Beer mixed with lemonade, in Bavaria and elsewhere; the name means cyclist. A popular story credits a Bavarian inn-keeper in the 1920s with inventing it for a rush of cyclists (check, as it is probably a legend). |
| Alsterwasser | The northern name for a similar mix, taken from a Hamburg lake (check). |
| Colabier or Diesel | Beer mixed with cola; a youth habit rather than a tradition. |
| Craft styles | IPAs, stouts and barrel-aged beers now brewed by a new generation of small breweries (see Chapter 10). |
Place, Pride and Protection
The rivalry between Cologne and Düsseldorf, over Kölsch and Altbier, is among Germany's best-known local contests. Other regions have their own: Bavaria against the north over wheat beer and Pils, and Franconia against Munich over what makes a proper beer garden. Behind the jokes lies a serious point. Many styles are linked to a particular place, and the European Union can protect a regional name through its system of protected geographical indications (check which German beers are protected). The idea is that a name like Kölsch should mean something.
Exercises
Pick three German lager styles and give a one-line description and a place or tradition for each.
Kölsch and Altbier are both ales brewed in a lager country. Say where each comes from, and why a city might protect the name of its beer.
Why do Berliner Weisse and Gose fall outside a strict reading of the purity law, and why has there been a revival of both?
Quick Reference
- Lagers: Pils, Helles, Dunkel, Märzen, Export, Schwarzbier, Bock, Kellerbier
- Wheat beers: Hefeweizen, Kristallweizen, Dunkelweizen, Weizenbock
- City ales: Kölsch (Cologne), Altbier (Düsseldorf), Rauchbier (Bamberg)
- Old sour styles: Berliner Weisse and Gose
- Mixes: Radler and Alsterwasser
- Protection: regional names can be legally protected (check)
Next chapter: Brewery, Beer Hall and Biergarten, which looks at the places where beer is made and drunk.