Do you know what distinguishes the best lager beers from all the rest? Are you looking to try some of the top selections? This review of the best larger styles to try is your ultimate guide to discovering delicious, refreshing lagers — with helpful tips on pairing and some of my top recommendations on lager beers you may not have tried but should.
Top Picks for the Best Lager Beers to Try
- Best American Lager:👉 Coors Banquet Lager
- Best Pale Larger: 👉Michelob Ultra
- Best Pilsner Larger: 👉Pilsner Urquell Beer
- Best Mexican Larger: 👉Corona Extra Lager
- Best Dark Larger: 👉Lone Star Lager
- Best Helles Larger: 👉Spaten Premium Lager
- Best Dunkel Larger: 👉Prost Dunkel
- Best Vienna Lager: 👉Yuengling Traditional Lager
- Best Dortmunder Larger: 👉Peroni Nastro Azzurro
- Best Craft Larger: 👉Narragansett Lager
- Best Hoppy Lager: 👉Victory Prima Pils
- Best Strong Larger: 👉Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock
- Best Schwarzbier Larger: 👉Kostritzer Schwarzbier
- Best Bock Larger: 👉Shiner Bock
- Best Rice Larger: 👉Asahi Super Dry
Best Larger Beers By Type
From classic American lagers to dark, hoppy craft options, I will guide you through the best lager beers by type – from Coors Banquet Lager Beer and Michelob Ultra to Lone Star Lager and Narragansett Lager.
Best American Larger: Coors Banquet Lager Beer
| Category | 🍺 American-Style Lager |
| Region | 🌎 Colorado, United States |
| ABV | 🍻 5% |
| IBU | 🌶️ 15 |
| Tasting Notes | 👃 Biscuit, Bready, Crisp |
| Food Pairing | 🍔 Beef, Cured Meats, 🐟 Fish – Meaty & Oily |
| Suggested Glassware | 🥛 Pint Glass |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 35-40° F |
Coors Banquet is among the most popular and well-known among the best lagers in the United States. Brewed in 1873, it’s a classic American Adjunct Lager that has a slightly malty sweetness and subtle hints of bitterness, providing a refreshing taste.
It has an alcohol content of 5 percent, higher than Coors Light – making it a more potent brew. The brewery uses two-row barley malt and selects hops to create this tasty beer.
Get More Top Picks for American Style Largers
Best Pale Larger: Michelob Ultra
| Category | 🍺 Light Lager |
| Region | 🌍 Missouri, United States |
| ABV | 🍺 4.2% |
| IBU | 🌡️ 10 |
| Calories Per Serving (12 Oz) | 🔥 95 |
| Carbs Per Serving (12 Oz) | 🍞 2.6 |
| Tasting Notes | 👃 Bright, Grainy, Light, Malty |
| Food Pairing | 🍔 Beef, 🥜 Nuts |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍺 Pint Glass |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 35-40°F |
Michelob Ultra is a light pale lager beer that is among its best and most popular. Brewed using Herkules hops and wholesome grains in a unique combination, it offers an unmistakably crisp taste and light body.
With just 96 calories per serving, Michelob Ultra has become increasingly popular with health-conscious individuals on reduced-calorie diets or those following low-carbohydrate regimens due to its sparse 2.6g of carbohydrate content per bottle as well! It also emanates a delicate aroma laced with a citrusy flavor profile.
Get More Top Picks for Pale Lager Beers
Best Pilsner Larger: Pilsner Urquell Beer
| Category | 🍺 Pilsner |
| Region | 🌍 Czech Republic |
| ABV | 🍺 4.4% |
| IBU | 🌡️ 40 |
| Tasting Notes | 🍻 Crisp, Dry, Grainy, Minerality |
| Food Pairing | 🥗 Salads & Greens, 🍗 Chicken |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍺 Pilsner Glass |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 40-45° F |
Pilsner Urquell is an iconic lager beer that has remained a classic and beloved brew since its debut in 1842. The brewery was established in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic, where it still stands today.
Pilsner Urquell is considered one of the best overall pilsners on the market due to its unique flavor profile, including notes of malt, caramel, and hops. It also boasts a brilliant clarity and golden hue that instantly drew people to it after its release.
The brewing methods used for this beer are unique compared to other pilsners and employ a triple decoction mash – uncommon even in many parts of Europe – as well as beechwood aging coordinated by an individual cellar master who designs every single batch from start to finish producing beer with immense consistency but slight variation year over year due to differences in temperature control or yeast propagation amongst other details typical only in small-scale batches like these.
Get More Top Pilsner Picks
Best Mexican Larger: Corona Extra Lager
| Category | 🍺 Pilsner |
| Region | 🌍 Mexico |
| ABV | 🍻 4.6% |
| IBU | 🌶️ 18 |
| Calories Per Serving (12 Oz) | 🔥 148 |
| Carbs Per Serving (12 Oz) | 🍞 13.9 |
| Tasting Notes | 👃 Dry, Grainy, Light, Neutral |
| Food Pairing | 🍗 Nuts, 🍗 Chicken |
| Features | 🚫 Gluten Reduced |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍻 Pint Glass |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | ❄️ 35-40°F |
Corona Extra Lager is among the best Mexican lagers and is widely popular with beer drinkers worldwide. It has a crisp, clean taste and a light body that sets it apart from other types of beers in its category.
It’s light, easy-drinking flavor makes it an ideal option for hot summer days or for pairing with tacos or Mexican dishes.
What sets Extra apart from others is its history as one of Mexico’s most beloved beers—it’s been brewed since 1925 and has gained worldwide recognition due to its superb quality over all these years! The combination of two linked rings on its label has become an iconic symbol synonymous with Mexico and vacationing south of the border.
Corona Extra’s popularity doesn’t seem to waver, as evidenced by its numerous award wins, such as being named World Beer Cup Champion Mid-Size Brewing Company three times.
Best Dark Larger: Lone Star Lager
| Category | 🍺 Dark Lager |
| Region | 🌎 Texas, United States |
| ABV | 🍻 4.7% |
| IBU | 🌡️ 10 |
| Calories Per Serving (12 Oz) | 🔥 134.9 |
| Carbs Per Serving (12 Oz) | 🍞 11.4 |
| Tasting Notes | 👃 Bready, Bright, Light |
| Food Pairing | 🍽️ Nuts, Cured Meats |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍺 Pint Glass, Stein/Pub Mug |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 45-50°F |
Lone Star Lager is a classic American lager beer that Lone Star Brewery has produced since its establishment. It features a light golden appearance and a crisp taste, making it Texas’ most popular lager.
This unique dark larger offers an unmistakable flavor like no other. It’s brewed using two-row barley malt, corn syrup, and Cascade hops to give it quality aroma, color, and bitterness.
Best Helles Larger: Spaten Premium Lager
| Category | 🍺 Helles Lager |
| Region | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| ABV | 5.2% 🍻 |
| IBU | 21 🌡️ |
| Tasting Notes | 😋 Bitter, Grainy, Bready |
| Food Pairing | 🍽️ Cured Meats, Fish – Meaty & Oily |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍺 Pint Glass, Stein/Pub Mug |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 40-45° F |
Spaten Premium Lager is one of the best Helles lagers in the market. this Munich Helles, or premium lager, is known for its mild bitterness and a soft and rounded finish that makes it stand out from other variants in the market.
It’s an Original Munich Helles Lager – so called because of its distinct appearance compared to other types of beer – which has been prevalent throughout Germany for centuries due to its subtly balanced flavor profile, made up of brewing quality ingredients according to traditional methods.
Best Dunkel Larger: Prost Dunkel
🍺 Beer Information
| Category | Dunkel |
|---|---|
| Region | Colorado, United States |
| Type | Craft |
| ABV | 5.6% |
| IBU | 20 |
| Calories Per Serving (12 Oz) | 170 |
| Tasting Notes | 🍫 Chocolate, 🍇 Dried Fruit, 🌾 Malty, 🍻 Smooth, 🍞 Toasty |
| Suggested Glassware | Weizen Glass |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 45-50° F |
Prost Dunkel is a wonderfully crafted dark lager beer from Germany. It has a deep, malty, well-balanced flavor with subtle notes of chocolate, coffee, and roasted nuts.
This full-bodied beer features rich aromas of caramel and toffee, leading to its smooth and creamy finish. The brewing process for Prost Dunkel uses malt kilned at higher temperatures than lighter beers to give the beer its unique dark color.
Its ingredients include European hops, yeast cultivated in a sealed bottle to retain its distinct characteristics, pilsner malt, Vienna malt, and Munich dark lightly-roasted malts, which create layers of complex flavors like toast, nutty bitterness, and earthy tones underlined by sweet caramel notes, that come together perfectly on your palate.
Best Vienna Lager: Yuengling Traditional Lager
| Category | 🍺 Amber / Vienna Lager |
| Region | 🌎 Pennsylvania, United States |
| Type | 🏭 Craft |
| ABV | 🍻 4.5% |
| IBU | 🌡️ 16 |
| Calories Per Serving (12 Oz) | 🔥 140 |
| Tasting Notes | 👃 Malty, Dry, Bready |
| Food Pairing | 🍖 Lamb, Pork |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍺 Pint Glass, Pilsner Glass |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 45-50° F |
Yuengling Traditional Lager is the best Vienna lager in the market. From its pre-prohibition origins, this American beer has been a staple of bars and pubs across America and beyond.
Its complex flavor profile sets Yuengling Traditional Lager apart from other lagers. It combines sweet maltiness with a light bitterness to create balanced notes of caramel, honey, herbal hop spices, and faint hop aroma.
This iconic brewing technique creates a smooth taste perfect for any occasion.
The beauty of traditional Vienna lagers lies in their simplicity; Yuengling’s recipe includes four ingredients: Barley Malt, Crystal Hops, Yeast, and Water.
Best Dortmunder Larger: Peroni Nastro Azzurro
| Category | 🍺 Dortmunder / Export Lager |
| Region | 🌍 Italy |
| ABV | 🍺 5.1% |
| Tasting Notes | 👅 Dry, Grainy, Light |
| Suggested Glassware | 🥛 Pint Glass |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 45-50°F |
Peroni Nastro Azzurro is a well-known Italian pale lager known for its crisp, clean taste and distinctive bitter finish. It contains 5.1% alcohol by volume (ABV) and 24 international bitterness units (IBUs), making it a refreshing beer for any occasion or gathering.
This premium lager uses only the finest ingredients, including 100 percent malted barley, maize, and select hops from Germany, France, and Slovenia, giving the beer its renowned flavor profile.
Peroni Nastro Azzurro has won multiple awards over the years, such as ‘The World Beer Awards 2019’ where it was chosen as “Best Super Premium Lager” in London that year, becoming proof of its high standards of excellence worldwide throughout countries like Italy, U.K., Ireland, Australia, and many others.
Likewise, this Dortmunder Larger also got recognized with 95 points at The Best Beers of 2017, according to RateBeer reviewers, for providing an enjoyable experience with its balanced sweet maltiness mixed with noble hop aromas that creates an extraordinary taste sensation upon consumption.
Best Craft Larger: Narragansett Lager
| Category | American-Style Lager |
| Region | Rhode Island, United States 🌎 |
| Type | Craft, Independent Craft Brewer 🍻 |
| ABV | 5% 🍻 |
| IBU | 14 🌡️ |
| Calories Per Serving (12 Oz) | 148 🍽️ |
| Tasting Notes | Balanced, Crisp, Dry, Malty, Smooth 👅 |
| Food Pairing | Beef, Chicken, Cured Meats, Duck & Game Bird, Fish – Meaty & Oily, Fish – White, Nuts, Pasta, Pork, Shellfish, Turkey 🍔🍗🍝 |
| Suggested Glassware | Pint Glass 🍺🍺 |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 35-40° F ❄️ |
Narragansett Lager is an iconic 140-year-old beer that has been a favorite of craft beer drinkers in the United States. The amber lager has earned high praise from industry experts and consumers, with a 77% rating from 1,615 votes on Beer Advocate.
Its smooth hop flavor, balanced malty character, and herbal and floral aroma create a unique experience for its loyal fans. Narragansett Lager’s simple yet flavorful recipe gives it more dimension than the American macro beers usually associated with summertime – making it one of the best lagers to enjoy all year.
Initially created by Rhode Island brewer Gustave Pabst in 1890, Narraganset cans are lauded as part of America’s great heritage beers thanks to their easy drinkability and classic New England style.
Best Hoppy Lager: Victory Prima Pils
| Category | 🍺 Pilsner |
| Region | 🌍 Pennsylvania, United States |
| Type | 🏭 Craft |
| ABV | 🍻 5.3% |
| IBU | 🌡️ 43 |
| Carbs Per Serving (12 Oz) | 🥨 43 |
| Tasting Notes | 🍊 Citrus, 💨 Crisp, 🌼 Floral |
| Food Pairing | 🧀 Cheese – Hard Aged, 🐟 Fish – White |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍺 Pilsner Glass |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 40-45° F |
Victory Prima Pils is widely considered one of the best hoppy lagers in the United States and even gained notoriety worldwide as a classic craft beer. Developed by Victory Brewing Co., this German-style pilsner was introduced to U.S. craft beer drinkers in 1996, setting them up for an adventure with its clean, crisp taste.
It has a light body and an intense hop character, offering an unmistakable spicy zing from Saaz hops found exclusively in the Czech Republic. With spice and citrusy notes, Victory Prima Pils provides an excellent flavor profile that stands out amongst other hoppy beers.
Prima Pils’ distinct flavor has been recognized for its quality on many occasions, too, being ranked A+ in Beer Advocate Magazine and receiving gold medals at two consecutive Great American Beer Festivals in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Best Strong Larger: Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock
| Category | 🍺 Eisbock |
| Region | 🌍 Germany |
| Type | 🍻 Craft |
| ABV | 🍺 12% |
| IBU | 🌶️ 15 |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍷 Snifter/Goblet/Chalice |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 50-55°F |
Schneider Aventinus Weizen-Eisbock is a solid and majestic German beer style that sits at the top of the craft lager category. With an ABV of 8.2%, it might not be your choice for everyday drinking, but when one craves bold flavor, beguiling aroma, or deep color, this beer will satisfy like no other.
This unique brew begins life as a wheat doppelbock before undergoing secondary fermentation in which brewing sugar and yeast are added to create natural carbonation – giving Schneider Aventinus a distinct heady taste and unmistakable haze.
Its dominant flavors come from chocolate malt, dark fruits, and clove with faint hints of banana on the nose – making it genuinely standout amongst peer craft lagers available today.
Best Schwarzbier Larger: Kostritzer Schwarzbier
| Category | 🍺 Schwarzbier |
| Region | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Type | 🍻 Craft |
| ABV | 🍺 4.8% |
| IBU | 🌶️ 22 |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍺 Pint Glass, Stein/Pub Mug |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 45-50°F |
The Kostritzer Schwarzbier is a traditional German dark beer and one of the most famous giant beers. This black lager is medium-bodied, with flavors ranging from lightly roasted malts to dark chocolate and coffee hints.
It has a slightly malty sweetness and low hop bitterness, perfect for those looking for an easy drinking experience. The aroma is predominantly subtle roastiness, complemented by some biscuit malt notes and mild fruitiness.
Kostritzer Schwarzbier was recently named the world’s best joint-style beer at the World Beer Cup 2018 competition in Nashville, TN—the global brewing industry’s most prestigious award event—and continues to draw accolades today as one of the top giant beers on the market.
Best Bock Larger: Shiner Bock
| Category | 🍺 Bock |
| Region | 🌎 Texas, United States |
| Type | 🍻 Craft |
| ABV | 4.41% 🍻 |
| IBU | 13 🌡️ |
| Calories Per Serving (12 Oz) | 141 🔥 |
| Carbs Per Serving (12 Oz) | 12.4 🍞 |
| Tasting Notes | 🍮 Caramel, 🍇 Dark Fruit, 🥖 Bready |
| Food Pairing | 🍒 Fruit – Dried, 🦆 Duck & Game Bird |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍺 Pint Glass, 🍺 Stein/Pub Mug, 🍷 Snifter/Goblet/Chalice |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 50-55°F 🌡️ |
Shiner Bock is an American-style lager beer produced by Texas-based Spoetzl Brewery. Boasting a well-balanced taste with some sweetness and a medium body, this 4.4 percent ABV beer has developed into a reliable option for casual beer drinkers who enjoy its subtle hints of toasted malt and caramel flavors.
As a dark lager, it might look heavier than many other beers. Still, unlike those beers, you may enjoy the second or third bottle because you won’t be feeling any serious drinking effects—thanks to Stoetzl brewing techniques–accommodating both their loyal customers and new beer drinkers while delivering an excellent balance of flavor in every sip.
Best Rice Larger: Asahi Super Dry
| Category | 🍚 Rice Lager |
| Region | 🌏 Japan |
| ABV | 🍺 5% |
| IBU | 🌡️ 20 |
| Calories Per Serving (12 Oz) | 🔥 135 |
| Carbs Per Serving (12 Oz) | 🍞 6.1 |
| Tasting Notes | 😋 Crisp, Dry, Fresh, Grainy, Light, Smooth |
| Food Pairing | 🍔 Beef, 🧀 Cheese – Blue, 🧀 Cheese – Creamy & Bloomy, 🧀 Cheese – Fresh & Soft, 🧀 Cheese – Hard Aged, 🧀 Cheese – Nutty & Semi-Firm, 🧀 Cheese – Stinky, 🍗 Chicken, 🍖 Cured Meats, 🍫 Dessert – Chocolate & Coffee, 🍮 Dessert – Fruit, 🍦 Dessert – Vanilla & Caramel, 🦆 Duck & Game Bird, 🐟 Fish – Meaty & Oily, 🐟 Fish – White, 🍊 Fruit – Citrus, 🍇 Fruit – Dried, 🍬 Fruit – Sweet, 🍖 Lamb, 🍄 Mushrooms, 🥜 Nuts, 🍝 Pasta, 🐖 Pork, 🥕 Root Vegetables, 🥗 Salads & Greens, 🦐 Shellfish, 🍅 Tomatoes, 🦃 Turkey |
| Suggested Glassware | 🍺 Pint Glass |
| Suggested Serving Temperature | 🌡️ 40-45° F |
Asahi Super Dry is a light and crisp rice lager beer from Japan. Brewed with rice and malted barley, this premium lager has become the king of Japanese beers for its intense flavor and refreshing quality.
Boasting a pale-golden hue and smooth finish, Asahi Super Dry offers a delightful experience that can fit any occasion or setting.
The brewing process starts with carefully selected high-grade raw ingredients like malt syrup, hops, and brewer’s yeast which are mashed together to create the unique crisp taste of Asahi Super Dry.
Its balanced aroma includes notes of sweet honeydew melon and subtle hints of herbal grassiness from hop aromatics. The palate defines it with assertive bitterness and mild sweetness.
In terms of popularity, Asahi Super Dry is enjoyed in Japan and across several continents, proving its widespread appeal! It also is one of the world’s top 10 bestselling beers since 2012 — joining an elite list dubbed “The Billionaires Club” — a testament to its unrivaled quality among other brands on offer today.
What Makes A Great Lager Beer?
From clarity and color to aroma, flavor, carbonation, and mouthfeel – discover what makes an excellent lager beer by reading on!
Clarity, Color, And Appearance
Regarding wine, clarity, and color are often used as quality indicators. The same is true for more extensive beer, though seemingly minor details can significantly affect an individual’s appreciation of a particular brew.
Clarity refers to the lack of suspended particles or other material that can make a more extensive beer look hazy or “cloudy,” which may affect its flavor.
For example, while craft brewers strive for clear beers using more advanced filtration processes, many traditional German-style lagers have some degree of haze due to specific yeast strains that lend unique flavors and aromas when left unprocessed (unfiltered).
As such, judging this aspect purely on its appearance alone may do brewers — particularly those crafting traditional styles — an injustice by assuming their product is inferior before trying it.
Color is another area where visual cues can come into play when evaluating lagers; straw yellow Pilsners will be much different from dark brown Bocks, Especially with light-colored ales like Helles Lager and Berliner Weisse, which take on an almost white hue due to their low malt content and heavily filtered ingredients yielding minimal visuals beyond pure liquid gold reflections in the glass before pouring; experience may be needed to discern each one’s subtle differences despite similar appearances up front.
Aroma And Flavor
The flavors and aromas of lagers are distinct due to their unique brewing processes. Different types of hops, malts, and yeasts used in the brewing process can lead to different flavors and aromas.
For instance, American lager styles combine corn or rice adjuncts during fermentation and bittering crystals hopped for flavor. This results in a crisp, easy-drinking beer that offers a light sweet grainy malt character with subtle bitterness from the hops.
Darker lagers are brewed by adding specialty roasted grains and some darker malts for color and roasted flavors, such as caramel, chocolate, or coffee notes, depending on the type of dark malt added.
Temperature plays a vital role in influencing the characteristics of ale and more giant beers, getting the most optimum aroma & flavors when stored at appropriate temperatures over a defined duration}.
Temperature helps showcase esters generated during yeast’s natural metabolic activity, which will also be altered based on various other factors like yeast strain used& absent/excess oxygen level influence aroma & flavor profile.
Carbonation And Mouthfeel
The carbonation and mouthfeel of a lager beer directly impact its overall appearance, aroma, flavor, and drinkability. Carbonation affects the beer’s clarity and provides an animated character.
The level of carbonation can be adjusted depending on the type of lager being made; for example, light lagers usually feature fewer bubbles than traditional German or Belgian styles.
Additionally, proteins and enzymes in malts contribute to the mouthfeel and body of a beer. Higher levels of these elements create fuller-bodied beers that are smoother when consumed.
For example, Yuengling Traditional Lager is known for its distinctively full-bodied quality due to its slightly sweet taste created by higher amounts of malt used in brewing.
On the other hand, Dortmunder-style beers like Peroni Nastro Azzurro focus more on giant bubbles, giving them additional crispness while retaining a balance between sweetness and hop bitterness.
What are the different larger beer styles?
The most common types of lager beers are Pilsner, Dortmunder, Helles, Bock, and Maibock.
Pilsners have a medium body with a light hop aroma and crisp finish; Dortmunder is slightly darker than pilsner but just as refreshing; Helles is an easy-drinking golden lager with a sweet maltiness; Bock has higher alcohol levels and a robust, malty character while Maibocks tend to be even more full-bodied than traditional bocks.
What makes beer considered a lager?
Beers classified as ‘lagers’ have been brewed using bottom-fermenting yeast strains at colder temperatures, resulting in slower fermentation times when compared with ales. This process also produces proteins and fatty acids that create flavors & aromas distinct from those found in ale varieties – such as a milder bitterness & fruitier aroma undertones, for example.
What distinguishes one type of Lager from another?
Different types of Lagers vary based on their designated origin or region along with other defining flavors attributed to each style, including color (from pale yellow to dark bronze) ,& strength (ranging anywhere between 2% ABV up to 10%) – these characteristics are typically noted either by local culture/traditions or simply through popular preference across various markets throughout time.
Final Thought on Choosing the Best Larger Beers to Drink
Lager beers offer an incredible variety of flavors and aromas to explore. From American lagers such as Coors Banquet, Lone Star Lager, and Miller Lite; to craft lagers like Narragansett or Victory Prima Pils – you’ll find a refreshing style perfect for any occasion.
What makes the best lager beers are their clarity, color, appearance, aroma, flavor, and carbonation levels, contributing to the overall mouthfeel experience.
So next time you are in the mood for a light, tasty beer, don’t forget about traditional pilsners from Germany or even Japanese rice-style brews—there is something out there just right for your taste buds!
Explore different lagering processes to find what works best for you– whether malty bock styles or hoppy Helles infused with German culture —lagers are worth discovering!
