From hazy IPAs to pastry stouts, craft beer spent a decade chasing bigger flavours and louder styles. Now, brewers and drinkers are rediscovering the quiet brilliance of lager, writes Katie Mather

In 1876, a brewer from northern Europe emigrated to Barcelona and took beer culture with him. Eventually, the lager he had brewed back home in what was then German Alsace evolved to suit the local palate, and his ingredient tweaks for what he called a “Mediterranean beer” became what is now known as Estrella Damm. Estrella Damm’s story is similar to hundreds of breweries around the world – a brewer from Northern or Central Europe emigrates and takes with them a culture of beer and brewing, which then adapts over time to better suit the tastes of new communities.

Today, there are around 19,000 breweries across 208 countries, according to a survey by Alltech and The Brewer’s Journal, and brands such as Budweiser, Stella Artois, Heineken, Amstel, Carlsberg and China’s Snow are all global top sellers. They also all happen to be lagers. Just as Estrella Damm’s founder discovered, no matter where you base yourself, lager is endlessly popular, easy to drink and, while it’s not the most efficient and time-effective beer ton brew, it’s certainly the easiest to sell.

During the 2010s, larger breweries began to compete with smaller independents on different styles of beer. Craft beer was going mainstream and more drinkers were beginning to adopt beer drinking and collecting as a pastime, much the same as wine buffs with their cellars full of plonk. While they never overtook lager in sheer bulk sales, styles like American IPAs and pastry stouts were overtaking lager as the cool thing to drink. True fans distanced themselves from lager, seeking more complex flavours and non conglomerate ownership.

Of course, as with all trend cycles, what was cool will inevitably become cringe. Eventually the hyped-up world of craft beer became the subject of memes and light ridicule, and detractors returned to lager to quench their thirst. It seems that all the DDH DIPAs (Double Dry Hopped Double Imperial Pale Ales) in the world can’t beat a crispy pilsner on a hot summer’s day.

Lager’s renaissance was born, not out of necessity, but because drinkers wanted something less complicated to drink. Years of tasting notes and bottle shares left a fuzzy taste in the mouth. Liam Fidler, head of off-trade at Damm, says lager plays an increasingly important role in our beer ecosystem. “Consumers are demanding more premium lagers for consumption at home, and this has driven the rise of world and super-premium sub-categories. Quality and authenticity have become a huge factor in shopper decision making.”

On a similar theme, Chris Mitchell, marketing manager at Yorkshire based Vocation Brewery, adds: “When consumers choose lager, they’re increasingly looking for flavour, provenance or brewing credentials. That doesn’t mean they want lager to become complicated; it still needs to be clean, refreshing, approachable and dependable.

“However, there’s a growing appetite for beers offering a little more character, while remaining highly drinkable.”

“Drinkable” is the descriptor de jour for lagers in this current era of fizz acceptance. While you could argue that all beers are drinkable by their very nature, lager is judged on how balanced it is and how easy it is to drink. A good lager is more than a step up from water, it’s hundreds of years of brewing skill and subtlety poured into a crystal-clean glass, foamy and inviting.

In the UK, the popularity of a certain lager seems to rest on which country it comes from (or is said to come from). Drinkers like choice and at the moment that choice is mainly between Italian and Spanish lagers, with every bar offering riffs on San Miguel, Cruzcampo, Poretti, Birra Moretti and Peroni. What is it about continental lagers that captures our imaginations?

“Premium continental lagers often carry strong associations with heritage, place, flavour and brewing tradition,” Mitchell explains. “Whether it’s Czech, German or Italian-inspired styles, they’ve built a reputation for doing the basics exceptionally well.”

While older British brands like Carling and Tennent’s have retained loyal customers throughout the decades with a more generic flavour profile, smaller breweries like Vocation are taking on the market, proving that drinkers will give UK lager a chance if it offers everything their European favourites can.

“For UK brewers, it’s not about copying geography. It’s about respecting the brewing process, delivering consistency and ensuring the beer and the way it’s communicated is credible and authentic to the brewery behind it,” says Mitchell. “Lager’s strength is that it’s both familiar and evolving – it continues to adapt, while staying true to what people love about it.

Blurred lines

Authenticity, the craft beer fan’s most important consideration, can therefore be used to describe good lagers too. No wonder the lines between the types of beer nerds are becoming ever-more blurred.

“Lager’s evolution within independent brewing has helped bridge that gap,” Mitchell adds. “As more craft breweries invest in high-quality lager, it shows that lager isn’t the opposite of craft – it’s simply another expression of it. In fact, brewing a great lager is technically one of the hardest things to get right.

“For retailers, that crossover presents a real opportunity. Premium lager can attract mainstream lager drinkers looking to trade up, while also appealing to craft fans who want something clean and sessionable to suit the occasion. It widens the audience.”

So, whether it’s helles, pilsner, bock, Italian lager or some other delicious variation on a classic dreamed up by a small independent brewer, drinkers are still interested in choice, including alcohol-free options, but that choice must include a refreshing, understated lager. Brands have tapped into the escapism of a holiday beer, arguably ever since Foster’s used an Aussie beach in its ads, but that desire to aspire using a sip of beer has never been stronger. And lager seems to scratch that itch better than most, especially when it remains one of the most reliably drinkable overarching low & no-alcohol styles available.

As people become more selective about when and how often they drink, they’re more inclined to trade up within familiar styles,” Mitchell says, referring to premium lager brands. “This is encouraging retailers to think more carefully about their ranging – balancing established volume drivers with premium innovation and credible low & no options that reflect evolving shopper preferences.”