Could someone explain the difference between a lager and a pilsner?

Question

For example Heineken you can find labels that have "lager" and others with "pilsner" for the same crappy beer.

thanks

Sorry I didn't mean to imply that Lagers or Pilsners were crappy beer. I actually wanted to know the difference. What I meant about Heinenken (which I think is a crappy beer) they have on one label Lager and on the next Pilsner and its the same beer,

thanks again

Answer 1

A pilsner is a type of lager.

Lager: Traditionally, the beer is stored in barrels for several weeks or longer before being served. Lager is also a general name that includes several variations or styles, such as Pilsner, Vienna and Märzen.

Pilsner: Pilsener or pilsner is a pale lager, developed in the 19th century in the city of Pilsen, Bohemia (Plzeň in the Czech Republic).

Typical lagers use German hops, pilsners use German and Czech hops.

Pislners are bottom-fermenting. There are two catagories of beer, ales (top-fermenting) and lagers (bottom-fermenting).

Answer 2

Pilsner Vs Lager

Answer 3

Pilsner is not really a term but a style of beer first brewed in Plzen, Czechoslovakia in 1842. It's in the lager family.
Lagers and pilsners are bottom fermented meaning they're fermented at lower temps with as little air contact as possible. Ales are top fermented at higher temps.
Real Pilsners are more heavily hopped and bottle conditioned than a traditional lager but the term PIlsner has been pretty well bastardized so this doesn't hold true for all.
In real world settings there is usually little variation between wide distribution lagers and pilsners. Any style of beer can be crappy no matter what its ilk and any style can be very good.
It's all personal taste really.

Answer 4

A pilsener IS a type of lager....

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Pilsener is a pale lager, developed in the 19th century in the city of Pilsen, Bohemia (Plzeň in the Czech Republic).

Until the 1840s, most Bohemian beers were top-fermented, dark and cloudy. The taste and standards of quality often varied to the worse, and in 1838, consumers even dumped whole barrels to show their dissatisfaction. The citizens of Pilsen decided in 1839 to found and build a brewery of their own, Burgess' Brewery[1][2] (now Plzeňský Prazdroj), which should brew beer according to the Bavarian style of brewing. Bavarian brewers had begun experiments with the storage (German: Lager) of beer in cool caves using bottom-fermenting yeasts, which improved the beer's clarity, flavour, and shelf-life.

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...Beginning in the sixteenth century (or possibly even earlier) Bavarian brewers were required by law to brew beer only during the cooler months of the year. In order to have beer available during the hot summer months, beers would be stored in caves and stone cellars, often under blocks of ice.

In the period 1820-1830, a brewer named Gabriel Sedlmayr II the Younger, whose family was running the Spaten Brewery in Bavaria went around Europe to improve his brewing skills. When he returned, he used what he had learned to get a more stable and consistent lager beer. The Bavarian lager was still different from the widely-known modern lager; due to the hardness of Munich water it was quite dark.

The new recipe of the improved lager beer spread quickly over Europe. In particular Sedlmayr's friend Anton Dreher used the new lagering technique to improve the Viennese beer in 1840–1841. The Viennese water enabled the use of lighter malts, giving the beer an amber-red rich colour.

The new recipe reached Bohemia, too, and the technique was further improved. In 1842, in the town of Plzeň, a 29-year-old Bavarian brewer Josef Groll tried the new lagering recipe using a different malt with the local water, which was much softer than Munich or even Viennese water: the resultant beer had a very bright golden color. This new kind of beer, which became known as Pilsener or Pilsner, had a huge success and spread all over Europe....

Answer 5

The real difference is in the style of fermenting the brew. A Pilsner is a beer with a "top-fermenting" yeast - resulting in a lighter, crisper beer. A Lager is made with "bottom-fermenting" yeast. It takes longer to ferment, and at cooler temperatures. The result is a fuller-flavored beer.

Don't use American (especially Anheuser-Busch) beers as an example. Budweiser claims it is a true lager beer. It is not. Real lagers do not contain rice (or wood chips).

For a great example of a true Pilsner, try Pilsner Urquell - from what was Czechoslovakia. It is the original, true Pilsner (from Pilsen).

Answer 6

lager and pilsner are not "crappy". Some are but most arent. There are made by special monks in the Alps using the finest of different things that go into beer. Each one is hand crafted. Thank you.

Answer 7

It has to do with the ingredient's and the process of fermenting the hops which produces the liquid basis for the equation and the length of time needed to flounder the end product.

Answer 8

Below is a link that explains the difference.

Answer 9

a pilsner is a 23oz. mug.... so a lager is either a 10oz. or a pitcher...maybe?

Or maybe I am COMPLETELY off.... LoL

Answer 10

no