Beer Styles

What is an Australian lager? It's a pale, bottom-fermented beer with low bitterness, served ice cold. In Tasmania, it fills the shelves: Cascade's Premium Lager and Boag's Premium Lager both follow this pattern. In the BJCP guidelines, it falls under International Pale Lager.

The difference from a German Helles lies in the details. Munich's Helles tastes distinctly malty and has a delicate but noticeable hop bitterness. Australian lager is usually more neutral, lighter-bodied, and built for the cold. Sugar in the recipe often makes it drier.

Pale Ale has a long history on the island. Cascade Pale Ale is considered the oldest continuously brewed beer in Australia. It's top-fermented, amber to golden in colour, and shows more hop aroma than lager. BJCP guidelines for American Pale Ale only serve as a rough reference point here.

A pale ale differs from an India Pale Ale through lower bitterness and lower original gravity. Original gravity is the sugar content of the wort before fermentation, measured in degrees Plato. The more sugar, the more alcohol can form. An IPA is more heavily hopped and usually stronger.

Beyond these two main styles, there's stout and farmhouse ale. The island's small breweries experiment widely, from wheat beer to sour beer. For a starting point, two styles will do: a cold pale lager, and a pale ale with fruity aroma, the kind Australian hop varieties deliver.