Why do you seldom see high gravity lagers?

[snarf7]

Lots of imperial stouts and strong ales coming in at 8-11% but you almost never see a high ABV in a lager, why is that? Does the crispness and dryness not lend itself well to that? Seems that can't be the case...look at Sauvignon Blanc, usually very crisp and dry and invariably right up around 14%. Granted wine is a different beast but the way we taste and perceive things is the same. So what then? Is it the fact that most lager recipes are lightly hopped with noble hops, low on the bitterness and not overly malty? Does a high gravity lager need to be kicked up a notch to balance out the alcohol?

Just spitballin here but I have had some nice hoppy lagers though I've never made one myself so I'm intrigued by the idea of taking a traditional lager recipe and cranking up the dials on it a bit

 

[bracconiere]

i could swear 'I' have seen tripels(SP?) and stuff like that?

edit: in fact to 'me' it seems like every body and their mother's are brewing tripel bock's and **** non stop?

 

[Julian Høstan Urrea]

Lots of imperial stouts and strong ales coming in at 8-11% but you almost never see a high ABV in a lager, why is that? Does the crispness and dryness not lend itself well to that? Seems that can't be the case...look at Sauvignon Blanc, usually very crisp and dry and invariably right up around 14%. Granted wine is a different beast but the way we taste and perceive things is the same. So what then? Is it the fact that most lager recipes are lightly hopped with noble hops, low on the bitterness and not overly malty? Does a high gravity lager need to be kicked up a notch to balance out the alcohol?

Just spitballin here but I have had some nice hoppy lagers though I've never made one myself so I'm intrigued by the idea of taking a traditional lager recipe and cranking up the dials on it a bit

I would think that lagers are made with a much lighter grainbill. Thus there is much less to mask the high alcohol content. Here in Norway I've tasted 6,5% and I found it tasted alcohol. Just my 2 cents

 

[Yooper]

There are lots of high OG lagers! Dopplebock, Eisbock, even a Maibock is a bit bigger than those light lagers.

One of the breweries I went to last summer featured dopplebock- all year around! It was about 80 degrees, but up the hills with a great beers, we loved enjoying dopplebocks. Many breweries do them more in the winter, but we saw them everywhere in Germany. There were some in Prague as well, but I stuck with the lighter ones since it was very hot outside and the medium gravity beers hit the spot.

Baltic porters tend to be huge beers as well, and almost always lagers.

Weizenbock is a high OG weissbier, and those are very common.

Schlenkerla has "Lenten beer" right now- a bigger 'meal' type of smoked lager.

I've seen blonde dopplebocks, and more helles bocks lately than ever before but the classics are still popular.

There are lots of them- those are just a few. They are out there!

 

[Yooper]

Oh, I forgot the link to the best place I've found to enjoy a dark lager beer: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/...tic-brewery-in-world-weltenburg-abbey-germany

Great food, awesome beer, beautiful church and monastery, and the bier garten is so much fun. It was one of my favorite places to visit in all of Germany, and that's saying a lot! I did a walk up the hill to the chapel and some of the views over the Danube were breathtaking. It was just such a wonderful place.

 

[Dland]

I make some lagers with ABV in the 7-7.5% range. Usually pre-prohibition types or classic American pilsners. I can begin to taste a little alcohol around 6-6.5% in that style, but that's fine with me.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I suppose your question is tied to this one:

Why do you seldom see craft beer that's not some IPA perversion, some kind of dessert stout, or some sugary fruit sour?

 

[Dland]

I suppose your question is tied to this one:

Why do you seldom see craft beer that's not some IPA perversion, some kind of dessert stout, or some sugary fruit sour?

Some would say it's because them perversions are what the high spending drinking public want, others would wonder if some of these craft brewers don't know brewing craft that well, and are hiding behind all the cloudy, fruity flavors and protein haze.

 

[snarf7]

There are lots of high OG lagers! Dopplebock, Eisbock, even a Maibock is a bit bigger than those light lagers.

One of the breweries I went to last summer featured dopplebock- all year around! It was about 80 degrees, but up the hills with a great beers, we loved enjoying dopplebocks. Many breweries do them more in the winter, but we saw them everywhere in Germany. There were some in Prague as well, but I stuck with the lighter ones since it was very hot outside and the medium gravity beers hit the spot.

Baltic porters tend to be huge beers as well, and almost always lagers.

Weizenbock is a high OG weissbier, and those are very common.

Schlenkerla has "Lenten beer" right now- a bigger 'meal' type of smoked lager.

I've seen blonde dopplebocks, and more helles bocks lately than ever before but the classics are still popular.

There are lots of them- those are just a few. They are out there!

good call, dopplebocks would generally be higher alcohol for sure, but I don't think i've had one that was like 8-9%...sure someone out there makes them though?

Do you live in Germany? Or just travel there for beer?

Come to think of it though, my questions was worded poorly...I should have said "why do you seldom see high gravity lagers in the U.S.?" Maybe it's different other places in the country but where I am (east coast) the typical beer menu looks something like this these days:

10 IPAs - 8 or 9 of which are NEIPAs
2 Stouts - 1 of which is Imperial and made with Vanilla Coffee Cherry Whisky
1 American Amber
1 Hefewiezen
1 Belgian Ale
1 Pils
1 Porter
1 Lager (usually a kolsch, sometimes a helles tho)

 

[snarf7]

I suppose your question is tied to this one:

Why do you seldom see craft beer that's not some IPA perversion, some kind of dessert stout, or some sugary fruit sour?

Haha, I wrote my previous post before I read this, you sound like a kindred spirit!

 

[seatazzz]

West Coast (I'm in the PNW) beer menus are pretty much the same, sometimes with a sour or gose thrown in. Heavy on the IPA's and the rest of the styles barely get a look-in.

The highest I ever got one of my lagers was 6.8%, and it was a little boozy before it lagered a bit more and that "bite" showed up. Dangerous beer after that, one or two and done.

 

[madscientist451]

High gravity lager=Malt liquor?

 

[bracconiere]

this thread is great, reminds me of the 'true beer'(SP?), and 'you still use hops' ones....and, LOL!

 

[snarf7]

Don't forget these! Lol

 

[bracconiere]

i never saw that at the liquor store! lol, must have been hiding!

 

[yourlastchance89]

I had a 9% imperial pilsner from a local brewery the other day.

 

[Yooper]

Do you live in Germany? Or just travel there for beer?

I do travel often on my Beercations, but I don't live in Germany currently. I lived there a very long time ago, though. That's where I learned to love beer of course.

As a BJCP beer judge, I probably see many more styles than we typically see in US brewpubs, but they are out there and worth searching out!

 

[brewcat]

I'd guess because most breweries don't have tank space. High gravity lagers will take longer to ferment and longer to age. I have the same problem in the home brewery. Do I want to tie up a keg for months? I'm thinking I need an extra fermentation chamber just for lagering.

 

[kjdevault1]

Don't forget these! Lol

Camp was my late Uncle’s fave. He’s buy a flat of tall boys and keep them in his truck, preferring them warm to summer hot.

 

[yowzers]

Baltic Porter can be a good high gravity lager.