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German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria

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Re: German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria

#31
Oddly enough I awoke to a story on RTE.ie (Ireland's state broadcaster's website) entitled "Irish scientists help uncover origins of lager beer". I laughed, opening the article, to find the title change to "Unknown origins of lager beer uncovered by Irish and German scientists". It still places us Irish at the forefront, but a little less so :-)

https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/0427/1379406-lager-origins/

Re: German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria

#33
post #6
post #2

Ah ok, that kind of lager!

Tell me you don't drink beer without telling me you don't drink beer.

The article talks about 90% of all consumed beers are "Lager" which definitely isn't what I would expect when I hear "Lagerbier". The "90% mainstream beer" is called Pilsner in Germany (unless you're in Bavaria where the mainstream beer is probably Hefeweizen).

PS: I'm actually surprised by the article, I thought this type of beer was first brewed in Pilsen/Plzeň (thus the name "Pilsner")

Re: German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Co2 does not create a “sour” taste.

Dissolved CO2 forms carbonic acid which like most acids has a sour taste. It's not as strong as something like citric or lactic acid but it's certainly present. I personally don't really think of it while drinking carbonated beer but I definitely notice it while drinking sparkling water without other flavors to distract me.

The reaction you describe exists but this is not generally referred to as sour in the context of beer tasting. Carbonic and citric acid are usually described as "tart" or "acidic" flavors, with "sour" generally being reserved for lactic or acetic acid.

Re: German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria

#35
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me you don't drink beer without telling me you don't drink beer.

Nobody here calls it "Lager", u less it actually is one. We have Helles, Dunkles, Weissbier, dunkles Weisbier, Kellerbier, Pils, Lagerbier... If you order a Lager in Bavaria I honestly have no idea what you would get. Most likely still a beer, I have to try it next time, weather is nice enough for a first trip to a beer garden anyway!

You'd get a Helles or Pils, depending where in Germany you are. Either because the waiter/waitress know that they are lagers, or alternatively, they don't, but understand Bier, in which case they'll serve you a Helles or Pils as well.

Re: German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria

#36
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Lager inside a Kneipe / Wirtshaus is obviously meant in the "category of beer" way. At least here in Bavaria, it would just be "ein Helles" (or "ein Dunkles"). :D Regional differences between Bavaria and Switzerland may show here. As an example of "Untergärig" used instead of Lager: https://www.giesinger-shop.de/zum-trinken/9-giesinger-erhell...

This is commercial advertising, a product description. That has of course its place but it's something different from the daily usage, which is what I meant. You wouldn't order at the Theke ein Untergäriges, or would you???

> At least here in Bavaria, it would just be "ein Helles" (or "ein Dunkles"). :D

No, I wouldn't. And you wouldn't just order "a Lager", right? I kinda think we don't actually disagree. :)

The only difference may be that, if asked what kind of beer a "Helles" is, expecting some kind of category other than "Helles", I would answer "untergäriges Bier" and you may answer "Lager". Both are correct, one description focuses on the ability to keep the beer in storage in the ice cellar of the brewery, the other on the brewing process. What we both probably don't do is also e.g. call a Pils a Lager. In my experience, some of our american friends do that.

My point was that the US definition of beers that are "Lager" is very broad, way broader than in Germany (and probably also Switzerland & Austria) and that some parts of Germany even use completly different words for a similar categorization.

Re: German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria

#37
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Camp" is a more accurate translation, which gives the title a bit of a different connotation...

In Russian, Czech or Slovak, I have never ever seen or heard it being used in the context of an innocent camp. It just means bad kind of prison and sometimes military barracks - when you want to imply you don't like those military barracks. I do not know how in German.

Summer camp? https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Летний_лагерь

When лагерь is used by itself, it depends on context - could be a prison/labor camp, kids summer camp, a historical military reference to an army camping on a campaign, or even a refugee camp or a tourist camp. Not that different from English “camp” really.

Russian also borrowed lager bier in “лагер” (without the softening “ь”), whereas Czech and Slovak have native words for it (ležák/ležiak) with a similar (if not greater) complexity in styles to Germany.

Re: German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria

#38
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody here calls it "Lager", u less it actually is one. We have Helles, Dunkles, Weissbier, dunkles Weisbier, Kellerbier, Pils, Lagerbier... If you order a Lager in Bavaria I honestly have no idea what you would get. Most likely still a beer, I have to try it next time, weather is nice enough for a first trip to a beer garden anyway!

Weissbier and all other white beers are ales, not lagers.

Lager/bottom-fermenting: Helles, Dunkles, Kellerbier/Zwickel, Pils

Ale/top-fermenting: Weissbier/Weizenbier, dunkles Weissbier/Weizenbier, Alt, Kölsch

Re: German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria

#39
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me you don't drink beer without telling me you don't drink beer.

The article talks about 90% of all consumed beers are "Lager" which definitely isn't what I would expect when I hear "Lagerbier". The "90% mainstream beer" is called Pilsner in Germany (unless you're in Bavaria where the mainstream beer is probably Hefeweizen). PS: I'm actually surprised by the article, I thought this type of beer was first brewed in Pilsen/Plzeň (thus the name "Pilsner")

Not sure about the rest of Bavaria, but "Helles" (Lager) is the mainstream beer in Munich. Weißbier (Hefeweizen) isn't that uncommon but rather cliche...

Re: German researchers figure out how lager first developed in Bavaria

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The semantic space that "lager" covers in German is around storage/collection: so it covers concepts that in English are distinguished by worlds like "camp" (storage of people; and is therefore applied to prison camps) and "warehouse". Lager beer is matured in cold storage (like a cellar), hence "Lagerbier" just means "beer kept in storage", roughly. Because of differing semantic coverage, a lot of words between Germ…

At UCSD, the campus library is named “Geisel Library” (Geisel means hostage)

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