Style Details

Name
Inter­na­tio­nal Amber Lager
Cate­go­ry
Inter­na­tio­nal Lager
BJCP Style Code
2 B
Appearance
Gol­den-amber to red­dish-cop­per color. Bright cla­ri­ty. White to off-white foam stand which may not last.
Aro­ma
Low to mode­ra­te malt aro­ma which can be grai­ny, with a very low to mode­ra­te cara­mel-sweet to toasty-mal­ty aro­ma. Hop aro­ma can ran­ge from low to none with a mild­ly flo­ral or spi­cy cha­rac­ter. Clean lager pro­fi­le. A slight DMS or cor­ny aro­ma is acceptable.
Fla­vour
Low to mode­ra­te malt pro­fi­le which can vary from dry to grai­ny-sweet. Low to mode­ra­te levels of cara­mel and toasty-brea­dy notes can be evi­dent. Low to medi­um-low cor­ny sweet­ness is optio­nal, but not a fault. Hop bit­ter­ness is low to mode­ra­te, and hop fla­vor is low to mode­ra­te with a spi­cy, her­bal, or flo­ral cha­rac­ter. The balan­ce can be fair­ly mal­ty to near­ly even, with the bit­ter­ness beco­ming more noti­ceable but not objec­tionable. The bit­ter­ness level can increase if the malt cha­rac­ter increa­ses to match. Clean fer­men­ta­ti­on pro­fi­le. Finish is modera­te­ly dry with a modera­te­ly mal­ty aftertaste.
Mouth­feel
Light to medi­um body. Medi­um to high car­bo­na­ti­on. Smooth; some examp­les can be creamy.
Over­all Impression
A well-atte­nu­a­ted mal­ty amber lager with an inte­res­t­ing cara­mel or toast qua­li­ty and res­trai­ned bit­ter­ness. Usual­ly fair­ly well-atte­nu­a­ted, often with an adjunct qua­li­ty. Smooth, easi­ly-drinkable lager character.
Typi­cal Ingredients
Two-row or six-row base malt. Color malts such as vic­to­ry, amber, etc. Cara­mel malt adjuncts. Euro­pean or Ame­ri­can hops or a com­bi­na­ti­on of both.
Histo­ry
Varies by coun­try, but gene­ral­ly repres­ents an adapt­a­ti­on of the mass-mar­ket Inter­na­tio­nal Lager or an evo­lu­ti­on of indi­ge­nous styl­es into a more gene­ric product.
Comm­ents
A wide spec­trum of mass-mar­ket Amber lagers deve­lo­ped eit­her inde­pendent­ly in various count­ries, or describ­ing rather gene­ric amber beers that may have had more his­to­ri­cal rele­van­ce but who even­tual­ly chan­ged into an indis­tin­gu­is­ha­ble pro­duct in modern times.
Com­mer­cial Examples
Brook­lyn Lager, Capi­tal Win­ter Skål, Dos Equis Amber, Schell’s Okto­ber­fest, Yueng­ling Lager
Ori­gi­nal Gravity
1.042 - 1.055 SG
Final Gra­vi­ty
1.008 - 1.014 SG
Color
7 - 14 SRM
Alco­hol
4.0 - 6.0 %vol
Bit­ter­ness
8 - 25 IBU