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Styles · Czech Dark Lager

Beer style · BJCP 2021 3D

Czech Dark Lager

Czech Lager

Representative The guidelines publish this style’s ranges per variant or not at all, so these are a representative envelope instead.

Original gravity
1.044–1.060
Final gravity
1.013–1.017
Bitterness
18–34 IBU
Color
14–35 SRM (28–69 EBC)
Alcohol
4.4–5.8 % ABV

What it is

Dark Czech lager with cocoa, toast and caramel from dark malts, held smooth by soft water and a long cold conditioning. Saaz sits behind the malt but keeps the finish from turning cloying. Roast should stay gentle — this is neither a Schwarzbier nor a stout.

Flavor

What a Czech Dark Lager should taste like, on the three wheels the studio scores every recipe against. The shaded ring is the style’s range on each axis, from 0 at the center to 5 at the edge.

Hops

Room for spice, floral or herbal.

Malt

Bready/biscuit, toasty, chocolate and coffee/roast, with room for grainy, caramel, sweet/honey or dark fruit.

Fermentation

Clean, with room for sulfur.

Hops that suit it

The traditional choice

What Czech Dark Lager has classically been brewed with.

Also right on character

Varieties whose loudest notes all sit on this style’s hop wheel, best fit first. How much to use is the recipe’s question; these are the ones that taste right.

And 4 more hops whose character fits. These are the 24 that fit best.

Yeasts that suit it

Strains the lab made for beers like this one, whose fermentation character sits inside the style’s wheel. A strain sold by several labs is listed once; its page names the others.

Style numbers, names and vital statistics are from the BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines, where you will find the official descriptions. The descriptions and flavor wheels here are Beerwright’s own. Beerwright is not affiliated with or endorsed by the BJCP.