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Styles · International Amber Lager

Beer style · BJCP 2021 2B

International Amber Lager

International Lager

Published ranges These are the ranges the BJCP 2021 guidelines publish for this style.

Original gravity
1.042–1.055
Final gravity
1.008–1.014
Bitterness
8–25 IBU
Color
7–14 SRM (14–28 EBC)
Alcohol
4.6–6.0 % ABV

What it is

An amber mass-market lager: modest caramel or toast laid over a body that stays light and a fermentation that stays lager-clean. Hop character is low and sweetness is restrained. Treat it as a color and light malt accent on the pale international lager, not as a Vienna or a Märzen.

Flavor

What a International Amber 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 floral or spice.

Malt

Grainy and caramel, with room for sweet/honey, bready/biscuit or toasty.

Fermentation

Clean, with room for sulfur.

Hops that suit it

None on character. The hops in this style are there for bitterness and balance, and any variety whose aroma you would notice is out of place.

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.

And 119 more yeasts whose character fits. These are the 24 that fit best.

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.