Czech Beer Styles (original) (raw)

Here's a handy cut-out-and-keep guide Czech beer styles. Avoid embarrassing incorrect style classifications. My list is ever-so-slightly more extensive than the BJCP's (must go and wash my brain out now).

8º pale - Lehký (Light). 3% ABV. Light, low-alcohol, easy-drinking beers. Bottled only.

10º pale - Světlé Výčepní (Draught). 3.5-4% ABV. Everyday cooking lager. The most popular style in the Czech Republic.

10º amber - Polotmavé Vycepni (Draught). 3.5-4% ABV. A not that common cooking version of amber lager. A style that is pretty much only seen in the Czech Republic.

10º dark - Tmavé Vycepni (Draught). 3.5-4% ABV. Quite common - usually quite sweet and a bit malty. The lager equivalent of ordinary Mild.

11-12º pale - Světlý Ležák (Lagerbier). 4.5-5% ABV. What foreigners think of as the typical Czech beer. It has a considerably wider gammut of flavours than the incorrect designation "Bohemian Pilsner" would have you believe. Though all have prominent Saaz hop character, they vary from bone dry to quite sweet.

11-12º amber - Polotmavý Ležák (Lagerbier). 4.5-5% ABV. Somewhere between dark and light 12º in both colour and flavour. Sweetish to dry, with quite prominent malt and some hops. Sometimes it really is a mix of pale and dark 12º.

11-12º dark - Tmavý Ležák (Lagerbier). 4.5-5% ABV. Vary quite widely in flavour from very sweet beers similar to Austrian Doppelmalz to dry, roasty beers more akin to a Schwarzbier. Mostly only have a quite subdued hop character.

13-14º pale - Speziál (Special). 5.5-6% ABV. Sometimes like a German Spezial - malty, but with quite prominent hops. Other times more like a German Märzen, with malt dominating.

13-14º amber - Speziál (Special). 5.5-6% ABV. Currently very much in vogue in the Czech Republic. SImilar to an amber Märzen.

13-14º dark - Speziál (Special). 5.5-6% ABV. A style only found in Franconia and the Czech Republic - a Dunkles Märzen. Malty, full-bodied and sometimes with a surprising degree of hoppiness.

16-17º pale - Strong. 6.5-7% ABV. Similar to a pale Bock. Very full-bodied, malty but with a good amount of balancing bitterness.

16-17º pale - Strong. 6.5-7% ABV. Amber Bock - like the pale version, but maltier.

16-17º amber - Strong. 6.5-7% ABV. Dark Bock. Sweeter and maltier than the paler versions.

18-20º dark - Very Strong. 7.5-8% ABV. Pale Doppelbock.

18-20º amber - Very Strong. 7.5-8% ABV. Amber Doppelbock.

18-24º dark - Very Strong. 7.5-10% ABV. Dark Doppelbock.

I make that 16 styles. Just one or two more than the "Bohemian Pilsner" listed by the BJCP. In a way, I'm surprised they haven't added more lager styles. Their main objective (and the Brewers Association, too) seems to be to give out as many medals as possible.

You also see Kvasnicové versions of at least 12º and 16º pale lagers. Such beers are reseeded with yeast after lagering and are usually (but not necessarily) slightly cloudy.

You can read much, much more about lager styles and their history in this article.