In alcohol by volume, the brew from Munich was also a bit stronger than that from Vienna. The dominant dunkel lagers of the early 19th century, by comparison, had a typical color rating closer to 40 EBC (20 SRM). Technically speaking, the color of a classic golden-amber Märzen tends to be around 18–25 EBC (9–13 SRM), while that of the reddish Vienna lager might be around 22–28 EBC (11–14 SRM). The lingering hop-aromatic finish, on the other hand, tends to be more pronounced in the Munich than in the Vienna lager style. Still today, the IBU-values of an authentic Märzen generally range in the low 20s, while those of a Vienna lager range in the high 20s. The Munich brew-like the prevailing dunkel of the age-placed less emphasis on up-front hop bitterness than did the Vienna brew. The brew from Munich had a slightly, but not cloyingly, sweet finish, while the one from Vienna finished much drier. However, they also differed from each other. Upon their return, they each adapted the progressive British ale-making techniques to their own lager-making, which resulted in the revolutionary Vienna and Märzen lagers.īoth brews were of medium body and, in typical Central European fashion, had plenty of malty notes. In fact, some beer historians accuse the two friends of outright industrial espionage. Dreher and Sedlmayr became interested in this new British brew and in 1833 they set off on a fact-finding mission to the United Kingdom to learn all they could about making this pale beer. This allowed for the reliable production of pale malt, which, in turn, gave rise to a new beer style, the pale ale. It dried the malt using heated air, not fire. In Britain, on the other hand, in the early 1800s, a new, indirect-fired kiln had come into use. The resulting malt tended to be rather uneven, with some kernels barely dried, and others soundly roasted, and even scorched. This is because the malt kilns in use in those days were direct-fired, with the combustion gases from the kiln’s fuel drying the malt. In central Europe, virtually all beers prior to the appearance of the Vienna, Märzen, and pilsner lagers in the 1840s were some shade of dark brown. In the United States, too, Vienna lager has found a solid following among craft beer aficionados. This may well be a result of the odd period from 1864 to 1867 when Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of Austria ruled as Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico. Strangely, this beer style is perhaps most popular nowadays in Mexico, where somewhat bowdlerized versions are made on an industrial scale. While the Märzen beer is still fairly popular in much of the modern world, the Vienna lager is now rarely brewed, even in the city for which it is named. Both breweries were making mostly dark lagers, or dunkels, at the time. Sedlmayr was the owner of the Spaten Brewery in Munich. Dreher was the owner of the Schwechat Brewery near Vienna, which was part of his family’s vast brewing holdings, the largest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with sites from Trieste on the Adriatic to Budapest, Hungary. The concurrence of the introduction of the Vienna and Märzen lagers was no accident, because the two brewers who created these styles, Anton Dreher and Gabriel Sedlmayr, were close friends and had cooperated in their development. To put that date in perspective, the world’s first golden blond lager, the pilsner, was developed in Plzen, in the Czech Republic, a year later, in 1842. Both the Vienna lager and the Märzen were first brought to market in 1841.

Von Trapp Vienna Lager – Von Trapp Brewing – Vermontġ0.Vienna Lager is an amber-reddish Austrian beer style that closely resembles the golden-amber Märzen style of Munich, Bavaria. Dock Time – Stony Creek Brewery – Connecticutĩ. Dynamo Copper Lager – Metropolitan Brewing – IllinoisĨ. Vienna Lager – Lost Forty Brewing – Arkansasħ. 914 Vienna Lager – Yonkers Brewing – New YorkĦ. Vienna Style Lager – Sierra Nevada Brewing – Californiaĥ. Eliot Ness – Great Lakes Brewing – OhioĤ. Firebrick – August Schell Brewing – MinnesotaĢ. Hop bitterness is low to medium-low, clean and crisp. Hop flavor is very low to low, deriving from noble-type hops. They are also characterized by slight malt sweetness, which should have notable toasted and/or slightly roasted malt character. Hop aroma is very low to low, deriving from noble-type hops. Vienna lagers are characterized by malty aroma, which should have a notable degree of toasted and/or slightly roasted malt character. The best Vienna lagers are copper to reddish brown.

Db vienna lager