The best lager beer is Pilsner Urquell, the crisp Czech original that has set the standard since 1842. That is my verdict after buying and tasting more than 50 lagers, every single one out of my own pocket, and scoring each on aroma, balance, body and drinkability.
I am Dan, and beer is my life. I have been an active homebrewer for over 10 years and have tasted and toured breweries all over the world, from tiny local craft outfits to the giants. This guide is not a rehash of press releases. It is built from my own tasting notes, with honest scores and a full review behind every pick. You can read more about me or see everything I have reviewed on my author page.
Below I have picked the best lager in every category that matters, from the best Mexican lager to the best light beer, the best pilsner and the best lager for cooking. Here is the quick version.
| Category | Our top pick | Score | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Lager Beer Overall | Pilsner Urquell | 4.2/5 | The all-rounder |
| Best Light and Low-Calorie Lager | Michelob Ultra | 3.5/5 | Calorie counters |
| Best Mexican Lager | Modelo Especial | 4.0/5 | Tacos and sunshine |
| Best American Lager | Yuengling Traditional Lager | 4.1/5 | Everyday value |
| Best German Pilsner | Bitburger Premium Pils | 3.8/5 | Hop lovers |
| Best Japanese Rice Lager | Sapporo Premium | 3.8/5 | Refreshment |
| Best European Pale Lager | Stella Artois | 4.0/5 | Crisp and dry |
| Best Budget Lager | Busch Light | 2.9/5 | Value and volume |
| Best Lager for Cooking and Chili | Modelo Negra | 3.9/5 | Cooking and chili |
| Best Lager for Cheese Dip and Queso | Dos Equis Especial | 3.5/5 | Nachos and queso |
| Best Lager for a BBQ | Samuel Adams Boston Lager | 4.0/5 | The grill |
The Best Lager Beers at a Glance
Here is every category at a glance. Swipe through the top picks and tap any card to jump straight to the full write-up.
Best Lager Beer Overall: Pilsner Urquell
My top lager overall is Pilsner Urquell. It is the beer that invented the pilsner style back in 1842, and it still sets the standard. You get a rich, golden, bready malt base balanced by a firm, spicy Saaz hop bitterness that most mass-market lagers do not come close to.
It is the one I reach for when I want a lager with actual flavour rather than just cold and fizzy. Served fresh it is superb, and it is widely stocked, so it is easy to find.
- Proper malt depth and a real, spicy hop bite
- The original pilsner, brewed the same way since 1842
- Still crisp and very drinkable despite the flavour
- Tastes flat and papery if the bottle is old or light-struck
- A little pricier than the macro lagers
Pour it right: the glass makes a difference to how Pilsner Urquell looks, smells and tastes. Here is the one I would pair with it.
- Budget pick: Bitburger Premium Pils
- Lower-calorie option: Michelob Ultra
- Also worth trying: Yuengling Traditional Lager
See more in our guide to the best pilsner beers. Pairing it with food? Try our beer and food pairing guide guide.
Best Light and Low-Calorie Lager: Michelob Ultra
If you want the lowest-calorie lager that still tastes like a beer, Michelob Ultra is the one. At 95 calories and 2.6g carbs it is genuinely clean and crisp rather than watery, which is why it runs the light-beer category.
It is my go-to for a long session or after a workout, when I want something light that will not fill me up or wreck the calorie budget.
- Just 95 calories and 2.6g carbs
- Cleaner and crisper than most light beers
- Easy to drink over a long session
- Light on flavour, as you would expect
- Costs more than budget light beers
Pour it right: the glass makes a difference to how Michelob Ultra looks, smells and tastes. Here is the one I would pair with it.
- Budget pick: Busch Light
- Also worth trying: Miller Lite
See more in our guide to the best light beers. Pairing it with food? Try our best beer with wings guide.
Best Mexican Lager: Modelo Especial
Modelo Especial is the best Mexican lager and one of the best-selling beers in America for good reason. It is a crisp, well-balanced pilsner-style lager with a touch more body and a honeyish malt note that lifts it above the lighter beach beers.
It is brilliant with tacos, off the grill, or just cold on a hot day. If you only try one Mexican lager, make it this.
- More body and balance than most Mexican lagers
- Superb with Mexican food and grilled meat
- Everywhere, and fairly priced
- Not as light as a Corona if that is what you want
- The gold foil is style over substance
Pour it right: the glass makes a difference to how Modelo Especial looks, smells and tastes. Here is the one I would pair with it.
- Budget pick: Tecate
- Lower-calorie option: Corona Premier
- Also worth trying: Pacifico Clara
See more in our guide to the best Mexican lagers. Pairing it with food? Try our best beer with tacos guide.
Best American Lager: Yuengling Traditional Lager
America’s oldest brewery makes its best-value lager. Yuengling Traditional Lager is a proper amber lager with real toasted-malt flavour, and it costs about the same as the pale macros.
It is a genuine step up from Bud, Coors and Miller without asking you to spend craft-beer money. If you can get it where you live, it is a no-brainer.
- Real amber-malt flavour at a macro price
- A big step up from the pale adjunct lagers
- Smooth and very easy to drink
- Only sold in part of the US
- Not the crispest option on a hot day
Pour it right: the glass makes a difference to how Yuengling Traditional Lager looks, smells and tastes. Here is the one I would pair with it.
- Budget pick: Pabst Blue Ribbon
- Lower-calorie option: Michelob Ultra
- Also worth trying: Samuel Adams Boston Lager
See more in our guide to the best American-style lagers. Pairing it with food? Try our best beer with burgers guide.
Best German Pilsner: Bitburger Premium Pils
For a classic German pils, Bitburger is my pick. It is crisp, all-malt and properly bitter, in a different class from the adjunct macros, and it is excellent value for an import.
This is the hoppy, dry end of the lager world. If you like a lager with a clean bitter snap, start here.
- Crisp, dry and genuinely bitter
- All-malt German recipe
- Great value for an imported pils
- The hop bite is not for everyone
- Best very fresh
Pour it right: the glass makes a difference to how Bitburger Premium Pils looks, smells and tastes. Here is the one I would pair with it.
- Budget pick: Beck’s
- Lower-calorie option: Michelob Ultra
- Also worth trying: Pilsner Urquell
See more in our guide to the best pilsner beers. Pairing it with food? Try our best beer with fried chicken guide.
Best Japanese Rice Lager: Sapporo Premium
Japanese rice lagers are built for pure, clean refreshment, and Sapporo Premium in that iconic silver can is the best of them. It is dry, crisp and beautifully made, with rice giving it that light, snappy finish.
It is my top pick with sushi, ramen or anything spicy. Asahi runs it close if you want it even drier.
- Exceptionally clean and refreshing
- Great with Japanese and spicy food
- That silver can is a classic
- Simple, with not much malt character
- Import pricing
Pour it right: the glass makes a difference to how Sapporo Premium looks, smells and tastes. Here is the one I would pair with it.
- Budget pick: Tsingtao
- Lower-calorie option: Asahi Super Dry
- Also worth trying: Kirin Ichiban
See more in our guide to the best Japanese rice lagers. Pairing it with food? Try our best beer with sushi guide.
Best European Pale Lager: Stella Artois
For a crisp European pale lager, Stella Artois leads the pack. It is a well-made Belgian pilsner with a firmer bitterness than the macros, and it is far better from a can than the light-struck green bottle.
Peroni is the more elegant Italian option, but for availability and value Stella is the everyday pick.
- Firmer, cleaner bitterness than most macros
- Widely available
- Better than its lad-beer reputation
- The green bottle can taste skunky
- Nothing exciting once it warms up
Pour it right: the glass makes a difference to how Stella Artois looks, smells and tastes. Here is the one I would pair with it.
- Budget pick: Heineken
- Lower-calorie option: Amstel Light
- Also worth trying: Peroni Nastro Azzurro
See more in our guide to the best pale lagers. Pairing it with food? Try our best beer with fish and chips guide.
Best Budget Lager: Busch Light
When the priority is price and quantity, Busch Light punches well above its cost. It is light and clean with a faint corn sweetness, and it is hard to beat for the money at a party or a tailgate.
It will not win any flavour awards, but for a cheap, easy-drinking crowd beer it does the job better than most in its bracket.
- Very cheap and easy to find
- Cleaner than most beers at the price
- Light enough for a long session
- Thin, with little flavour
- Not one to savour
Pour it right: the glass makes a difference to how Busch Light looks, smells and tastes. Here is the one I would pair with it.
- Budget pick: Natural Light
- Lower-calorie option: Michelob Ultra
- Also worth trying: Miller Lite
See more in our guide to the best light beers. Pairing it with food? Try our best beers for a BBQ guide.
Best Lager for Cooking and Chili: Modelo Negra
For cooking, you want a lager with some malt depth, and Modelo Negra delivers. It is a Vienna-style dark lager, smooth and lightly toasty, and that maltiness adds real body to a chili, a braise or a beer-cheese dip without turning bitter.
It drinks well on its own too, but this is the bottle I keep for the kitchen. Reach for it whenever a recipe calls for a beer with flavour.
- Malty depth that adds body to cooking
- Smooth and toasty, never harsh
- Also a great drinking lager
- Too rich if you just want something light
- A little pricier than pale Mexican lagers
For the kitchen: the classic use for Negra is beer-can chicken. Stand a can in this stainless holder, sit the bird on top and grill.
- Budget pick: Victoria
- Lower-calorie option: Corona Premier
- Also worth trying: Dos Equis Especial
See more in our guide to the best Mexican lagers. Pairing it with food? Try our best beer for chili guide.
Best Lager for Cheese Dip and Queso: Dos Equis
Cheese dip and queso want a beer that cuts through the richness without fighting the spice, and a crisp Mexican lager like Dos Equis is spot on. It has just enough malt sweetness to sit alongside melted cheese, and enough carbonation and snap to reset your palate between scoops.
It is light, clean and endlessly drinkable, which is exactly what you want next to a big bowl of queso, nachos or loaded jalapeno dip.
- Crisp and clean enough to cut through cheese
- Light malt sweetness that flatters queso
- Easy to drink by the bowlful
- Not much going on if you drink it alone
- The pale version is fairly light
Serve it right: a Mexican lager belongs in a proper cerveza glass. This Beers of Mexico set is made for it.
- Budget pick: Tecate
- Lower-calorie option: Corona Premier
- Also worth trying: Modelo Especial
See more in our guide to the best Mexican lagers. Pairing it with food? Try our best beer with tacos guide.
Best Lager for a BBQ: Samuel Adams Boston Lager
For a barbecue you want a lager with enough malt and hop character to stand up to smoke and char, and Samuel Adams Boston Lager is ideal. It is a rich, well-hopped Vienna-style amber with excellent balance and superb value.
It holds its own next to burgers, ribs and grilled corn far better than a pale macro, and it is the beer that helped launch American craft.
- Rich, malty and well hopped
- Stands up to smoky, grilled food
- Great value for the quality
- Too much going on if you want a light lager
- Not always easy to find outside the US
Pour it right: the glass makes a difference to how Samuel Adams Boston Lager looks, smells and tastes. Here is the one I would pair with it.
- Budget pick: Yuengling Traditional Lager
- Lower-calorie option: Michelob Ultra
- Also worth trying: Coors Banquet
See more in our guide to the best American-style lagers. Pairing it with food? Try our best beers for a BBQ guide.
Best Lagers for a Party
For a party you want crowd-pleasers: cold, easy-drinking lagers that suit everyone and will not empty your wallet by the case. My go-to trio is Coors Light and Miller Lite for the light-and-cheap crowd, and Corona Extra with a wedge of lime for the sunshine option. If budget is the priority, Busch Light is hard to beat by the case.
- Crowd-pleaser: Coors Light or Miller Lite
- Sunshine and lime: Corona Extra
- Best value by the case: Busch Light
- A step up in flavour: Modelo Especial
Then kit out the party. Here is the gear I actually use to keep the beer cold and the games going.
Sorted for beer and gear? Now you need games. Start with our roundup of the best drinking games, learn the official beer pong rules, take it outside with our outdoor drinking games, or keep it simple with flip cup.
Explore Lagers by Style
Want to go deeper into one style? These guides break each down in full:
- Best Mexican lager
- Best light beer
- Best pilsner beer
- Best American-style lager
- Best pale lager
- Best Japanese rice lager
More style and country guides are on the way, including the best helles lagers, the best hoppy lagers (India Pale Lagers), the best Irish lagers and the best German lagers.
The World’s Best-Selling Lagers
Nearly every best-selling beer on earth is a lager. The global top 10 is dominated by pale lagers that move enormous volumes in China, the US and Brazil. Here is the picture by annual volume.
| Rank | Lager brand | Home market | Volume (million hl) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snow | China | ~111 |
| 2 | Bud Light | USA | ~45 |
| 3 | Skol | Brazil | ~43 |
| 4 | Budweiser | USA / Global | ~40 |
| 5 | Tsingtao | China | ~38 |
| 6 | Heineken | Netherlands / Global | ~35 |
| 7 | Harbin | China | ~30 |
| 8 | Corona Extra | Mexico / Global | ~28 |
| 9 | Yanjing | China | ~25 |
| 10 | Brahma | Brazil | ~22 |
Source: Kirin Holdings 2024 global beer consumption report and NielsenIQ, via industry analysis. Figures are approximate annual volumes in million hectolitres and shift year to year.
The single best-selling beer in the world is Snow, a light Chinese rice lager sold almost entirely inside China. In the United States the picture has flipped fast: Modelo Especial overtook Bud Light to become the top-selling beer by dollar sales in 2024, with Michelob Ultra close behind, though Bud Light still leads by case volume. That is according to Circana 2024 retail sales data.
Lager Beer FAQs
What is a lager beer?
A lager is a beer made with bottom-fermenting yeast and a long, cold maturation, or lagering, which is where the name comes from. That cold conditioning gives lagers their clean, crisp, smooth character. Pilsners, helles, Mexican lagers and Vienna-style ambers like Modelo Negra are all lagers.
What is the difference between a beer and a lager?
Lager is a type of beer, not a separate drink. All beer falls into two broad families based on the yeast: lagers, which ferment cold with bottom-fermenting yeast, and ales, which ferment warm with top-fermenting yeast. So every lager is a beer, but not every beer is a lager.
Is lager a dark beer?
Usually not. Most lagers are pale and golden, like Pilsner Urquell or Stella Artois. But some lagers are dark, such as the Vienna-style Modelo Negra and Munich dunkels. Colour comes from the malt, not from whether a beer is a lager.
What are the main types of lager?
The big ones are pilsner (crisp and hoppy), helles and pale lager (soft and malty), Mexican lager (light and easy), Vienna and amber lager (malty and toasty), rice lager (clean and dry) and light lager (low calorie). We have tasted examples of each across our reviews.
What is a helles lager?
Helles is a pale, gold German lager, Munich’s answer to the pilsner. Where a pils leans on hop bitterness, a helles is all about a soft, bready malt sweetness with only a gentle hop balance, which makes it smooth and very easy to drink. Benchmark examples are Weihenstephaner Original, Paulaner Munich Lager and Spaten. The closest widely available cousins we have reviewed are crisp Euro pale lagers like Stella Artois and Birra Moretti.
What is a hoppy lager or India Pale Lager?
A hoppy lager, sometimes sold as an India Pale Lager or IPL, is a lager brewed with the bigger hop additions you would normally see in an IPA, so you get citrus and pine aromas over a clean, crisp lager base. If you like a lager with a real bitter snap, start with a classic German pils like Bitburger Premium Pils, which is the hoppiest, driest style we cover here.
What is the best-selling lager?
The world’s best-selling beer is Snow, a Chinese rice lager, at roughly 111 million hectolitres a year. In the US, Modelo Especial is now the top seller by sales while Bud Light still leads by volume, and Heineken is the biggest global import. See the table above for the full global top 10.
How We Test and Score Lagers
Every beer in this guide was bought with my own money and tasted properly, not skimmed from a spec sheet. I score each one on aroma, balance, body, drinkability and how well it does the job it is built for. Simple beers are not marked down for being simple, but the ones with real character and balance score higher. Prices move around, so each pick links to a live buy option rather than a fixed price. You can see the full method and every score on the individual beer reviews.
