The Brewers Association makes it official: Mexican-Style Lager is officially a thing
So is West Coast Pilsner, and the Czech styles get some definition
The Brewers Association just announced that it has added seven new beer styles to its Beer Styles Guidelines. I share them below. Brewers can now submit beers in those categories for judging at the Great American Beer Festival. The new guidelines provide judges with criteria for awarding medals, so the brewers have a target at which to aim. Among the newly added beer styles, a kind of beer broadly referred to as Mexican lager. Now we know what Mexican-Style Lager actually is, which is a relief.
QUICK ASIDE: To all my brewer friends, nothing in the style guidelines mentions lime. If you decide to add lime zest, lime juice, or some other form of lime flavoring to you Mexican lager, please make it very clear on the label and in the beer description. Some of us do not like lime in our beer. Others of us absolutely hate it.
Corona is a Mexican lager. So too is Modelo Negra. The two beers are vastly different in terms of appearance and flavor. And then there’s Dos Equis Amber and Bohemia Obscura, which represent a diversion in another direction. Yet, they are all Mexican lagers. The new guidelines address that breadth of diversity. None of the guidelines mention lime. Hallelujah!
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The exact evolutionary path of Mexican lagers is not a straight line and, in truth, it might not even be entirely Mexican. The Grit and Grain Podcast recently dedicated a pretty significant amount of time to the topic of Mexican lager. Though informative and entertaining, that discussion explored the question more than answer it. (G & G is the podcast of record for all things beer and Tacoma, btw.)
¿Qué es la cerveza mexicana?
Other than being a product of Mexico, what makes a beer a Mexican lager? Many folks would point to the use of corn. Many craft brewers use stuff like flaked maize to create their Mexican-style lagers, but there is nothing uniquely Mexican about corn even if you call it maize. Nor is there anything uniquely Mexican about using corn in a beer recipe. Brewers across North America, including some of the megabreweries, have damned-near always used corn, and even corn syrup (yuck). Maybe Mexican lager is like pornography: I can’t tell you what it is, but I know it when I drink it.
Since an increasing number of craft breweries are delving into the style, or maybe they’ve invented the style, the Brewers Association decided to create guidelines for how beer judges should evaluate four different styles of Mexican lager: light, pale, amber, and dark. Whatever those kinds of Mexican lagers once were, there is now a roadmap to guide brewers to what the BA thinks they should be.
The Guideline Additions
The recent addition to the guideline involve more than Mexican-Style Lager. Here is the word straight from the Brewers Association:
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“Four styles—Light, Pale, Amber, and Dark—that represent the range of Mexican-Style Lager. Formerly rolled into larger, more ambiguous lager categories for the GABF competition, the uniqueness and growing popularity of these styles warrants individual guideline recognition for brewers and judges as subcategories of the International Light Lager, the new International Amber Lager, and the International Dark Lager categories, respectively.”
“Czech-Style Amber Lager and Czech-Style Dark Lager. The distinctive side-pour faucet used to dispense Czech-style beers has created renewed brewer and consumer interest in these traditional beers. Along with the addition of these two styles to the guidelines, we have included them as GABF subcategories of the new International Amber Lager category and the International Dark Lager category, respectively. Additionally, the category formerly known as Bohemian-Style Pilsener has been renamed as Czech-Style Pale Lager.”
“Representing the constant innovation that is a hallmark of independent brewers, West Coast-Style Pilsener is a new style that balances the fresh, assertive expression of Pacific Northwest and Southern Hemisphere hops with the character and drinkability of a pilsner. This style is a result of brewers’ recent experimentation with high hop levels in lager styles.”
“We are proud to honor these traditional brewing styles with a home in the BA Style Guidelines in recognition of their continued and growing popularity here in the United States, as well as in the global beer market. Now these beers will have a distinct home when it comes to competitions like GABF and World Beer Cup, giving them the best opportunity to shine and showcase the artisans making world-class examples of these beers.” -Chris Williams, Competition Director, Brewers Association.
The Four Styles of Mexican Lager
Mexican-Style Light Lager
- Color: Straw to pale gold
- Clarity: Appearance should be clear; Chill haze should not be present
- Perceived Malt Aroma & Flavor: Low to medium-low pale malt sweetness and aroma may be present. May have adjunct flavors from corn and/or rice
- Perceived Hop Aroma & Flavor: Very low to low with attributes typical of noble-type hops
- Perceived Bitterness: Very low to low
- Fermentation Characteristics: Clean fermentation profile; low fruity esters may be present; sulfur may be present in very low levels. Diacetyl should not be present
- Body: Very light to light body with dry finish
- Additional notes: Clean pale lagers often made with 2-row pilsner malt and may contain corn and/or rice to lighten body. Medium to medium-high carbonation and low final gravity produce a light-bodied beer that finishes dry
Mexican-Style Pale Lager
- Color: Pale to deep gold
- Clarity: Appearance should be clear; Chill haze should not be present
- Perceived Malt Aroma & Flavor: Low to medium-low pale malt sweetness and aroma may be present. May have adjunct flavors and aromas from corn and/or rice
- Perceived Hop Aroma & Flavor: Low with attributes typical of noble-type hops
- Perceived Bitterness: Low to medium-low
- Fermentation Characteristics: Clean fermentation profile; low fruity esters may be present; sulfur may be present in very low levels. Diacetyl should not be present
- Body: Low to medium-low with dry finish
- Additional notes: Clean pale lagers often made with 2-row pilsner malt and may contain corn and/or rice to lighten body. Head retention may be medium to medium low and low noble-hop character is slightly more noticeable than that of its light counterpart
Mexican-Style Amber Lager
- Color: Light amber to copper
- Clarity: Appearance should be clear with white head of foam; Chill haze should not be present
- Perceived Malt Aroma & Flavor: Medium-low to medium-high caramel and bready malt aroma and flavor; light roast and light corn and/or rice flavors may be present
- Perceived Hop Aroma & Flavor: None to low with attributes typical of noble-type hops
- Perceived Bitterness: Very Low to low
- Fermentation Characteristics: Clean fermentation profile; low fruity esters may be present; sulfur may be present in very low levels. Diacetyl should not be present
- Body: Light to medium-light body with light creaminess
- Additional notes: Addition of specialty malts may provide caramel or lightly toasted complexity to malt profile. The presence of corn and/or rice to lighten body may be noticeable. Medium to medium-high carbonation with dry finish makes these beers very refreshing
Mexican-Style Dark Lager
- Color: Dark copper to dark brown with ruby or garnet highlights
- Clarity: Appearance should be clear with creamy, beige to light brown foam. Chill haze should not be present
- Perceived Malt Aroma & Flavor: Medium to medium high complex bready toast malt aroma and sweetness from addition of darker specialty malts; light caramel, toast, nutty and/or toffee flavors may be present; Low aromas and flavors from corn and/or rice may be present
- Perceived Hop Aroma & Flavor: None to low with attributes typical of noble-type hops
- Perceived Bitterness: Very low to low
- Fermentation Characteristics: Clean fermentation profile; low fruity esters may be present; sulfur may be present in very low levels. Diacetyl should not be present
- Body: Medium to medium-full body with dry finish
- Additional notes: Grain bill may contain Munich and/or Vienna type base malts. May also contain corn and/or rice. Small amounts of toasted and crystal malts and/or dextrin may be added for color and slight sweetness.
