Lager vs Ale

[TimT]

Kvestion, your Honour: why did Lager beer become the default beer in Australia?

The conventional explanation seems to be that lager is better for our climate: lighter, not as heavy or sweet as ales (which are apparently European winter drinks). That doesn't make sense to me. A lager can have just as much body as an ale, there are plenty of pale ales, and if we didn't like the sweetness of ales in our climate, why have we retained other sweet foods (lamingtons?)

Here's my go at an alternative explanation:
Snobbery - lager was an elite continental drink. Because it is harder to ferment well, it is arguable that only the 'best' makers could produce it.
- 19th century imperialism and patriotism - association with the royal family (whose German origins were well known, though became less well known after the world wars for obvious reasons).
- Competition - it suited the larger, better funded brewers to promote a beer that was more difficult to produce than ale.

Sure there's a few other reasons....

 

[indica86]

Is the standard aussie pish actually lager? The bitters sure ain't bitter.

 

[sp0rk]

In my view the major reason is to do with the 6pm closing laws
The easier drinking lagers could be smashed down 6 at a time before having to wander back home to a nagging wife and kids
ever since then, most blokes have drunk what dad drank and the culture of drinking easily skullable lagers has flourished

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Coopers Lager never really took off....

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

But.....most beers are Draughts ( tap ) or Bitters. Not many actually say "Lager"

Tooheys New
Carlton Draught
Reschs Pilsner
XXXX bitter & gold
West End draught
VB


And they are not really lagers by definition
They are mainly fast brewed something.

 

[indica86]

And the likes of VB, Melbourne Bitter - what are they actually?

 

[Glot]

Mostly pale lagers as far as I know. They tend to suit our climate and our culture.

 

[indica86]

They tend to suit our climate and our culture.

Pale and piss weak imitation?

 

[mje1980]

Ales can be dry and sessionable. They can also be turned around pretty quick.

 

[Not For Horses]

Vb is brewed with a lager yeast but at ale temps (17 I think)

 

[Spiesy]

Didn't this happen everywhere?

England, USA, Australia...

Sure, craft beer is fighting back in all of these countries that have a tradition as strong beer drinking countries, but the mass-consumed style is still that of the "international mass-market lager"

 

[Spiesy]

But.....most beers are Draughts ( tap ) or Bitters. Not many actually say "Lager"

Tooheys New
Carlton Draught
Reschs Pilsner
XXXX bitter & gold
West End draught
VB


And they are not really lagers by definition
They are mainly fast brewed something.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but "draught" is not a style - but a method of serving, which kind of defies logic that you can buy "draught" in a can or bottle.

And I'll wager that ALL of the above beers you have listed are closer in BJCP guidelines to a lager than an English Bitter.

Some purists may disagree, but I consider a Pilsner a style of lager.

 

[TimT]

Another reason I thought of, ales are much easier to be brewed on smaller scales, at homes or small businesses (house beer at a pub). Big brewers distinguished themselves by brewing fancy lagers and promoting that in a way that appealed to Australia's sense of what was 'refined' (ie, expensive, difficult) beer.

Governments also encouraged this. Six o'clock swill, temperance - and, at one point, they cut back the number of pubs in Australia to meet some randomly-defined quota. Result: smaller pubs that might have brewed good ale tended to disappear. The big brewers kept their head down and didn't get closed down by government - and survived while other small-time brewers didn't.

I think it's an frequently observed cultural trend - when people settle in a new country, they'll soon develop a very distinct way of doing things, related to how they did things in the old country, but refined somehow. (For instance, the Australian accent picked up a number of aspects of British colloquial speech, but also quickly became flattened out.) It seems this has happened with beer, too.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but "draught" is not a style - but a method of serving, which kind of defies logic that you can buy "draught" in a can or bottle.

And I'll wager that ALL of the above beers you have listed are closer in BJCP guidelines to a lager than an English Bitter.

Some purists may disagree, but I consider a Pilsner a style of lager.

To the mega swillers....Draught is a style.

Yes, Pilsner is a lager....but to a mega swiller its Reschs.....and only Fosters is a lager, cause its printed on the label.

Next time you're in the Pub on a friday arvo and ask Bruce the tradie what he thinks of his Tooheys lager I will bet his reply will be " **** off mate...its New."

 

[Dunkelbrau]

Anyone seen those tooheys old "quiet ale" ads?

Their website says it's a lager..

 

[manticle]

Spiesy's point about the prevalence of pale lager everywhere is pertinent.
We probably stopped drinking bitters etc as a fingers up gesture to our colonial overlords.

 

[Gelding]

All valid but the real reason I believe is because lager is more fizzy and colder vs typical English "pulled" pint.

Though less flavoursome, just as alcoholic for the most. And its stinking hot mostly in Oz. Not quite like the grey, cloudy overcrowded Blighty.

 

[manticle]

So why is lager also popular in Germany?
And Poland?
And the UK?

 

[squirt in the turns]

Spiesy's point about the prevalence of pale lager everywhere is pertinent.
We probably stopped drinking bitters etc as a fingers up gesture to our colonial overlords.

Agreed. This is hardly a phenomenon unique to our fair "stinking hot" land (what's up with that, anyway? I reckon we're in denial about the fact that half this country has bitterly cold winters).

Most of the beer drinking world got swept up in the lager craze within a few decades of the Czech lager revolution. OK, parts of Europe and America have a much stronger and longer beer heritage than us, but a lot of that seems to have slipped away (the current resurgence of "craft" beer notwithstanding). Coming from the UK, I reckon the average punter there doesn't give a **** about the difference between lager and ale, and is as likely to be found drinking a Carling, Stella or Kronenbourg as an Aussie is to be drinking a VB, Hahn or Tooheys. Although arguably Australian breweries have put their own spin on the homogenised pseudo-Euro light lager thing.

 

[Cocko]

"Good morning Worm your honour
The crown will plainly show
The prisoner who now stands before you
Was caught red handed showing flavours
Showing flavours of an almost human nature
This will not do.........."