Light beer is booming like never before: will this Bavarian specialty soon be the favorite beer of the Germans?

Created: 08/09/2022, 15:40

By: Carina Zimniok

The Bavarian beer specialty has never been as popular as it is now.

But why is it that Helles is also popular further north in Germany?

Munich/Tegernsee – There are moments that you never forget.

Where was I when Germany became world champions?

When the Pope resigned?

Mario Furlanello, managing director and chef at the Bornheimer Ratskeller, Frankfurt, also has a moment like this.

And that was when a Tegernsee area code lit up on his cell phone.

Light beer from Tegernsee in Frankfurt's Ratskeller - some guests come just for that

It's been four years, "at a quarter to eight in the morning," says Furlanello, 47. On the other end of the line was someone from the Tegernseer brewery with good news: in the future, light beer will be rolling out by the barrel from Upper Bavaria to Hesse.

Furlanello's years-long struggle for a rare commodity was over.

Since then, there have been exactly two beers on the drinks menu in the Ratskeller in the middle of Frankfurt: Unertl Weissbier from Haag in the Mühldorf district - and Tegernseer Helles.

The guests especially love the light, some just come for that.

Pale beer – this is currently experiencing a triumph, and not only in Mario Furlanello’s Ratskeller.

All over Germany!

This is also the case with the German Brewers' Association.

"The market share of light beers has increased significantly throughout Germany," it says.

By around 14 percent in 2021 to 8.9 percent.

And in the first quarter of 2022, the market share of light beers was already 9.3 percent - almost every tenth beer sold in stores is light.

No other variety grew so strongly in Germany in 2021.

Why is it?

Many beer fans outside of Bavaria now also like a Helles beer.

© Fernando Gutierrez-Juarez/dpa

Brauerbund: Mild beers are becoming more and more popular - "Light beers fit perfectly with the current trend"

The Brewers' Association has been observing for some time that mild beers are becoming increasingly popular.

"The Helle fits the trend of the time, because this style of beer is also mild and malty," they say.

Arnold Niedermeier from the Tegernseer brewery suspects that the light beer, which is often simply drunk from the bottle, expresses a certain attitude towards life.

Maybe that's it: after work, an uncomplicated beer with friends outdoors (not bad anyway because of Corona), goes quickly - and without a tap.

Light beer is actually a southern German phenomenon. Figures from the industry magazine

” show that more than two-thirds of light beer is drunk in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.

There is a story about the birth of the Helle: In 1894, the Munich Spaten brewery was the first brewery to brew a pale lager.

But because they didn't want to put the local drinkers through it at first, it was carted off to Hamburg.

A little beer knowledge

Light beer:

Light lager beer has a reserved malty aroma and is sweet, but also fruity and fresh;

undisputed number one in Bavaria;

bottom-fermented full beer;

Alcohol content 4.6 to 5.6 percent by volume

Pilsner:

Fine, slim aroma profile, the hops are in the foreground – it therefore tastes tart with a spicy herbal aroma;

invented by a Bavarian master brewer in Pilsen, Czech Republic (1842);

bottom-fermented full beer;

Alcohol content approx. 4.8% by volume

Weissbier:

Carbonated and fruity;

unlike crystal wheat, the dark varieties are reminiscent of ripe fruit and caramel;

80 percent of the wheat beers come from Bavaria;

top-fermented full beer;

Alcohol content approx. 5.4% by volume

Bottom-fermented or top-fermented?

The key difference is the temperature during fermentation.

Top-fermenting yeasts like it warm, bottom-fermenting ones cool.

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Pils is still the most popular beer in Germany – but breweries are increasingly opting for light beers

In fact, it was well received - and the type of beer was introduced at home.

The beginning of a success story that is currently being rewritten.

So far, Pils has been the absolute leader with a market share of 50 percent.

Will the Helle soon be the favorite beer of the Germans?

The breweries are arming themselves.

Erdinger Weißbräu, a traditional wheat beer brewer, has also been producing light beer since spring.

The Upper Franconian wheat beer makers Maisel even had a brewhouse built to brew more "Bayreuther Hell".

Because Helles sells particularly well when it comes from Bavaria, Krombacher from North Rhine-Westphalia has been cooperating with the Starnberger Brauhaus since 2021.

The "Starnberger Hell" with Bavarian diamonds and lions on the label is sold nationwide, in Cologne there is even an "Alm" where it is served.

And even the herbst beer brewers are getting into business: Flensburger has been brewing a light beer for some time.

Helles boom in Germany: problems with the distribution channels

But the Helles boom also has its limits.

Namely in logistics.

Arnold Niedermeier from the Tegernseer brewery receives inquiries from all over Germany several times a week - mostly it fails because there is no distribution channel.

That's exactly what Mario Furlanello was missing in Frankfurt.

After a blind tasting among guests with a clear result, he decided to serve Helles from Tegernsee - but how was the beer supposed to get the 450 kilometers to Frankfurt?

He found a solution himself, the brewery delivers once a week to Würzburg, where a drinks dealer picks up the barrels and brings them to the Ratskeller.

It was worth it.

Furlanello recently overheard a couple studying the drinks menu in front of another restaurant in Frankfurt.

"There's no such thing as Tegernseer Helles," said the man.

"Come on, let's go." (caz)