Lager Jack

Lager Jack is, unsurprisingly, Untappd’s badge for lagers. Have 5 to get level one.

The badge includes IPLs, Dunkels, Helles and Vienna lagers (all of whom have their own badges as well) but doesn’t count any form of Pilsner.

Lagers essentially took over the beer world in the 19th and 20th centuries, and for good reason. Refreshing, crisp and also cheap and easy to mass produce, almost every country has a brand or two of lager that dominate beer sales.

“Lagering” refers to the cold storage of beer, originally in caves or cellars. However, what defines a lager is actually the type of yeast used. The lager strains of yeast ferment on the bottom while most Ale yeasts are top fermenting.

Lagers have been made since the 1500s in Germany, but they were originally dark in colour, essentially what is now known as a Vienna lager. It wasn’t until the mid 19th century that pale ale techniques were combined with lager yeast to create the popular style we know today. This, combined with refrigeration technology to allow easy lagering, allowed for the style to increase in availability and popularity and rapidly take over the beer industry.

The ten most popular lagers are also the ten most popular beers in the world. Snow beer from China sells roughly 75 million barrels a year and is followed by Tsingtao, Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch InBev), Yanjing, Corona (also Anheuser-Busch InBev), Skol (Anheuser-Busch InBev), Heineken, Coors (Molson Coors) and Brahma (Anheuser-Busch InBev again).