American lager

American lager or North American lager is pale lager that is produced in North America. Pale lager originated in Europe in the mid-19th century, and moved to America with German immigrants. As a general trend outside of Bavaria and the Czech Republic where the beers may be firmly hopped, pale lager developed as a modestly hopped beer, and sometimes used adjuncts such as rice or maize – and this was also true in America.

Worldwide, the best-known American lager is Annheuser-Busch InBev's Budweiser, though prominent brands are also made by MillerCoors (Coors Light, Miller Genuine Draft, etc.) Pale lager is the predominant choice among America's largest brewing companies, although it is not common in U.S. microbreweries. Likewise, in Canada the biggest-selling commercial beers, including both domestics such as Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue, Kokanee, Carling Black Label, and Old Style Pilsner, and imports such as Budweiser and Coors are very lightly hopped pale lagers. This is by far the largest-selling style in Canada. Just as in the United States, Canadian microbrewers typically do not produce North American-style pale lagers.

Other terms for this type of beer, or sub-categories within it, include "American-Style Light Lager", "American-Style Low-Carbohydrate Light Lager", "American-Style Lager", "American-Style Premium Lager" (a term used at the World Beer Cup), "North American Style Lager" or "North American Style Premium Lager" (terms used at the Canadian Beer Awards).

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Wikipedia