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Most people in Germany will answer the question of what color beer is unequivocally with “gold-yellow”.
It is no coincidence that people often speak of a “cool blonde” when it comes to beer.
But there are regional differences: while the tasty red-brown Alt is widespread on the Lower Rhine, black beer is very popular with consumers in Saxony.
Another color is currently on the rise: amber.
“Back to the roots” is how beer sommelier Markus Raupach calls the trend.
Back to the roots.
“Historically, the beer world comes more or less from the amber-colored beer,” says the expert.
In 2020 Warsteiner launched its beer specialty “Brewers Gold” - amber-colored.
“Quite targeted,” as company spokeswoman Sinje Vogelsang emphasizes.
The special malts of the “Münchner” type are what give the “Brewers Gold” its special color.
The Hamburg Holsten brewery has also discovered the trend color for itself with its “Bernstein Lager”.
Duckstein, known anyway for its darker beers, currently comes with a "Amber Märzen".
It signals high quality
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The Warburger brewery scores with its "Roten Bock", the Paderborn brewery also has a specialty in its range 200 kilometers from the old metropolis of Düsseldorf with the "Paderborner Alt", which is more in the darker segment of the color spectrum. These are just a few examples of the trend towards beers with slightly stronger red tones.
Beer expert Raupach doesn't find this surprising. He sees especially unfiltered amber-colored beers as the “mass-compatible version of craft beer”. In addition, the amber color "signals a certain high quality," says Martin Michel from Corporate Communications at Carlsberg Germany. "In fact, sales of brands that use 'Bernstein' in their names have grown faster than the market over the past three years," says Michel. "What contribution the addition of 'Bernstein' has to it cannot be identified exactly."
Amber declines from quite light to quite dark and is ultimately always a cellar beer that is primarily associated with the Franconian beer region, explains Markus Raupach.
“And that's super-emotional.
This is a beer that is associated with holidays, naturalness, originality - and that's what it is. ”A trend taste goes in the direction of the malty beers.
"That rubs off on the beer styles," says Raupach.
"Caramel-accentuated, more heavily roasted malts are popular - and they are just darker".
The burnt malt grain makes the difference
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The decisive factor for the later color of the beer are, above all, the kiln temperature and duration. A light beer needs light malt and it loves it cool and fast - it is produced at kiln temperatures of up to 85 degrees and drying as quickly as possible. “For a strongly colored beer, a rich malt color is also necessary. They are available at around 100 degrees and a little more patience, ”informs the German Brewers' Association on its website. "Until well into the 19th century, grains of malt were burnt over an open fire," explains Markus Raupach. "That was inevitable with the type of kiln - and it made the beers amber."
Today all breweries could brew all styles of beer.
The color is a conscious decision and the variety is getting bigger and bigger - from the very dark stout to the light lager.
In general, Raupach has a problem with the fact that Pils is classified more north - with a focus on North Rhine-Westphalia - and black beer as a niche variety in Saxony.
“The world of beer is becoming more colorful,” says the expert.
“And even within the amber beers, the shade is getting bigger and bigger.” Ultimately, the black beer is not a Saxon, but rather a Thuringian plant - “in the tradition of the Bavarian dark”.
Wandering from the south to the north
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And the real revolution had come with the Pils, which was launched in Pilsen in 1842.
From then on, breweries would have brewed Pils everywhere where there was soft water - in Radeberg and Wernesgrün as well as in Jever.
"If you didn't have such water, you had to be inventive," says Raupach.
This is how the light came into being in Bavaria.
Even if the Pils with a market share of around 50 percent remains the top dog in Germany: “In many cases, consumers want to enjoy the holiday feeling from Bavaria at home,” says Peter Böhling, Head of Marketing at the Paderborn brewery.
That is why a trend of wheat beer and light beer towards the north has been discernible for years - currently particularly noticeable with light beer.
New edition: the Kurpfälzer Helle from the Mannheim private brewery Eichbnaum
From the “Soester Hell” to the Essener Stauder Brewery with its light “beer”: The bottom-fermented, light beer is more and more popular - even where it already holds more stocks regionally. For example, the Mannheim private brewery Eichbaum has just reissued its Kurpfälzer Helles.