Main Lager Styles Explained

Lager is a broad category covering many distinct styles, not a single flavour profile. Understanding the main families makes it easier to know what to expect from an unfamiliar bottle or tap and to find styles that suit your taste.

Pale lagers

Pale lager is by far the most common type consumed worldwide, including in South Africa. It is light in colour, ranging from pale straw to light gold, with moderate carbonation and a clean, crisp finish. Most large scale commercial lagers fall into this category. Within pale lager, a few sub styles are worth knowing.

Pilsner: Originating in Pilsen in the Czech Republic in 1842, Pilsner is known for its bright golden colour, pronounced hop aroma and a firmer bitterness than many other pale lagers. German Pilsners tend to be drier and slightly more bitter than Czech versions, which are often a touch maltier and rounder.
Helles: A Bavarian style developed partly in response to the popularity of Pilsner, Helles is maltier and less bitter, with a soft, bready character and gentle hop presence. It is designed to be easy drinking rather than assertive.
American style lager: Typically lighter in body and flavour than European pale lagers, often brewed with adjuncts such as maize or rice alongside barley malt, resulting in a very light, highly carbonated beer.

Amber and dark lagers

Not all lagers are pale. Several traditional styles use darker malts to produce deeper colour and richer, maltier flavour while still using the cold lagering process.

Vienna lager: Amber to light copper in colour, with a toasty, biscuit like malt character and moderate bitterness. It originated in Austria in the nineteenth century and remains influential in several Latin American brewing traditions.
Marzen or Oktoberfest: A Bavarian amber lager traditionally brewed in spring and stored until autumn celebrations. It is fuller bodied than a Helles, with a rich malt sweetness and relatively low bitterness.
Dunkel: A dark Bavarian lager with flavours of toasted bread, caramel and sometimes a light chocolate note, but without the roasted bitterness found in dark ales such as stout.
Bock: A strong, malty lager originating in Germany, typically deep amber to brown, with a noticeable alcohol warmth and little hop bitterness. Variants include Doppelbock, an even stronger version, and Eisbock, which is further concentrated by partially freezing the beer and removing the ice.

Light and low alcohol lagers

Many brewers also produce light lagers, brewed to be lower in calories and alcohol than standard versions, usually by using a higher proportion of fermentable adjuncts and a shorter conditioning period. Low and no alcohol lagers have also become more widely available, using methods such as limited fermentation or alcohol removal after brewing to reduce ABV while trying to preserve lager's characteristic crispness.

Why style matters when choosing a lager

Knowing these distinctions helps set realistic expectations. A Pilsner and a Helles can look almost identical in the glass but taste quite different, one more bitter and hop forward, the other softer and maltier. Similarly, a Bock and a standard pale lager share the same brewing method but are worlds apart in strength and intensity. When trying an unfamiliar lager, checking which of these style families it belongs to, often noted on the label or by the brewer, is a more reliable guide than colour alone.

South Africa's brewing scene includes examples across most of these categories, from mainstream pale lagers to smaller batch Pilsners, Helles and darker styles produced by independent breweries. Trying examples from a few different families is the most straightforward way to work out which style of lager you actually prefer.