Beer Styles

Which beer belongs to the Saarland and Palatinate? The signature style is pilsner, a pale, bottom-fermented beer with pronounced bitterness. Karlsberg Ur-Pils is the best-known example. Here, pilsner isn't a specialty beer — it's simply the beer you expect at the pub when you order 'a beer.'

How does pilsner differ from Helles? Bavarian Helles is softer, maltier and less hopped, while pilsner is drier and more bitter. According to BJCP guidelines, a Helles sits at 16 to 22 IBU, a German pilsner at 22 to 40. Here along the Saar and in the Palatinate, the line between the two styles tends to be drawn fairly clearly, thanks to the strong pilsner tradition.

Alongside pilsner stands wheat beer. The Palatinate brewery Bischoff produces the Falkensteiner Ur-Weisse, a hefeweizen that's hazy, fruity and light. It's top-fermented, tastes of banana and spice, and carries noticeably less bitterness than a pilsner.

On top of that come specialty beers that some regional breweries offer: a doppelbock, a black lager, or seasonal beers. Doppelbock is a strong, malt-forward beer with an original gravity above 18 degrees Plato. That measures the sugar content of the wort before fermentation, and it determines the beer's eventual alcohol level.

So anyone looking for beer in the Palatinate will mostly find pilsner, wheat beer and a dark seasonal brew. Regional styles of their own, like Kölsch or Altbier, don't exist here — which is why this region stands more for everyday beers than for specialty forms.