Style of the Month - 3 a Vienna Lager

So, to keep you on your toes, this month we're going to do a lager that is far more ubiquitous than meets the eye. If you were to ask a random person what a Vienna lager is, you'd probably just get a blank stare. The style is really something of an anachronistic name, relying on the fact that the whole lager brewing craze began with Anton Dreher after the isolation of S. pastorianus (formerly S. carlsbergensis) in Denmark. Curiously, the story goes that he studied at Barclay & Perkins in England and fathered the adoption of lager brewing in continental Europe. However, as a result of his studies in England, he also brought with him the English malting processes and adapted English pale ale techniques to his lager brewing, resulting in the copper-colored beer that we know as Vienna lager. Originally, it was called Märtzen by Dreher because it was brewed in March, when the weather remained cool enough for the fermentation and ice remained available. Eventually, it came to be known as Vienna style due to Dreher's proximity to Vienna, Austria.

So, what is Vienna lager and where can I find it? Oddly enough, it is all around you and goes by curious names such as Negra Modelo and Victoria (the Mexican one) because of the influx of Austrian immigrants into Mexico (and Latin America) in the late 1800s, led by Santiago Graf. Unfortunately, the vast majority of amber lagers in Mexico tend to be heavy in the adjunct department and get away from (quasi) traditional aspects that made this a desirable style. There are also a ton of great American craft-brewed examples that are available from a wide breadth of brewers as lager brewing among craft breweries has become more commonplace.

Ultimately, what make a great Vienna lager is the use of Vienna malt, which falls somewhere between Munich and English Pale malt in terms of character. It tends to have an increased sweet melanoidin character but preserves and nice and biscuity toast character. Utilization of this robust malt lends a certain richness while maintaining enough of a soft hop balance to keep it quite refreshing. The beer should finish dry and be medium bodied. Think of this sort of as Oktoberfest light. It should have no roast or caramel character and a very clean lager fermentation. And, in a nutshell, that's Vienna.