Pale Lager
What You Need To Know
If this seems like a vague or broad category, it is! The Pale Lager is much like the American Lager style category in so far as it captures the many light colored, light to medium bodied Lagers that often identify themselves as a “Pilsner” while in reality have just a vague resemblance to true Pilsner. This category is the largest selling category in the world as most every brewing nation produces at least one Pale Lager and often many. I have seen some definitions of Pale Lager that identify it as a broad group that encompasses all lightly colored Lagers such as Pilsner, Helles, Dortmunder and others. Here at Beverage Experts we will use the Pale Lager moniker to give a home to the plethora of commercial brands that are most often not pure malt Beers being made with adjuncts and therefore not meeting the criteria of a true Pilsner, or other light colored Lagers. In no way do we suggest that this style is made up of a collection of lesser or undesirable Beers. Rather, it is a group of Beers that have tremendous popularity and are worthy of their own category.
Great Examples of the Style
Harp, Ireland
Carlsberg, Denmark
Tennent's Lager, Scotland