Non-alcoholic beers are trending, in some European countries rising to above 10% of total beer sales, though in most they have yet to reach 5%. But do these beers constitute a new style?
Non-alcoholic beers
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Tim Webb
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Other authentic lagers
While the heritage of cold-conditioned beers is not as many-layered as that of ales, there appears nonetheless to have been a tradition of lagering some beers that goes back to the 15th century, and it is likely that at least some of these beers will have been conditioned by self-selecting lager yeast.
Stronger lagers
In the back catalogue of central European brewing is a cluster of styles of stronger lager, known collectively as Bockbier. While nowhere near as well-known as their lighter cousins, they have amassed respect both for range and for their quiet assertiveness
Dark lagers
In the same year that Anton Dreher first made an amber lager at his brewery near Vienna, his friend and colleague Gabriel Sedlmayer the Younger first made the first commercial dark one at his family’s Spaten brewery in Munich.
Amber lagers
Beers had been lagered over summer for centuries in Alpine caves before the emergence of factory-made examples around 1840. The first few of this new breed pre-dated Pilsener by a couple of years and were darker, in varying degrees.
Blond lagers
The original homelands of authentic blond lager cross the borders of the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria, though the global spread of the various related styles in the late 19th century led to a few classic examples being found in other European countries, and elsewhere.
About this guide
There is no correct way to classify or categorise different types of beer. What we have attempted to do here is to try to bring together the major established beer styles of the world and make some sense of them. Nothing is set in stone and this is a living document.
Session, sampling & sipping beers
Beers have many purposes. Some are for quaffing with your mates in a bar while you get on with the serious business of conversation. Some are minor works of art in their own right. Others should be sipped, to assist with thinking.