11 Best Lagers to Drink if You Like Your Beer to ‘Taste Like Beer’

When it comes to the world of beer, there’s an awful lot to choose from. In our years of drinking and writing about beer, we’ve had a chance to try countless styles from the classic, hoppy, bitter IPAs to boozy, whiskey-centric barrel-aged stouts (and everything in between). Each style brings with it a unique aroma, flavour and sense of craftsmanship.

But sometimes you just want a beer that tastes like beer. Purists don’t like that phrase (because there’s more than one way to taste like beer, they say), but it’s actually fairly descriptive. You’re likely imagining a pilsner or light lager. Something crisp, refreshing, no-frills, and highly crushable on a hot summer’s day.

Lucky for you, there are plenty of great options in this beer category. But, before we dive into the best lagers to quench your thirst, it’s important to give a little background on what a lager is, and why it’s the beer we all imagine when we think of the alcoholic beverage.

What is a Lager and How is it Made?

If you enjoy lighter beers, you won’t be surprised to learn that the pale lager is the most common beer style in the world. Even though it sometimes feels like you see IPAs and barrel-aged stouts everywhere (depending on the time of year), the lager is king.

The style is known for its use of bottom-fermenting yeast and cold fermentation. Its name comes from the German word “lagern,” which means “to store”. This is because, after fermentation, it’s “lagered” in cold rooms (often underground) for weeks or months. The result is a crisp, clear, refreshing beer that’s perfectly suited for any time of year and any social gathering.

Related: 20 Best Australian Craft Breweries

The Different Types of Lager, Explained

If you thought there was only one type of lager, you’re sadly mistaken. This is a broad term for a whole category of beer. While many lagers carry similar aromas and flavours, there are a handful of different styles ranging from light and sessionable, to malty and darker.

Pale Lager & Pilsner

The undisputed king of the beer world is the classic pale lager. This iconic category was truly born in 1842 in the Bohemian city of Plzeň (Pilsen), when the legendary Pilsner Urquell was first brewed. Famous for its bright golden hue, crisp mouthfeel, and thirst-quenching profile, this style beautifully balances soft bready malts with a distinct floral, gently spicy finish from noble hops.

Helles Lager

Born in Munich, the German-style Helles is a pale lager crafted for those who prefer a smoother, rounder brew. Unlike its hop-forward pilsner cousin, a Helles leans into its malty foundations, offering a soft, pillowy sweetness and subtle biscuit backbone that perfectly complements a very restrained touch of earthy hops.

American & International Lagers

These are the wildly popular, mass-produced macro beers made by the likes of Great Northern, Carlton Draught, or Corona. To achieve an ultra-light body and a highly crushable profile on hot days, brewers swap out some of the traditional malted barley for “adjunct” grains like corn or rice. The result is a highly refreshing, no-frills beer with minimal lingering bitterness.

Seasonal Bock

Dating back to the German middle ages, the traditional Bock is a stronger, heavier style of dark lager. Typically enjoyed during the cooler months as a winter warmer, it trades crisp lightness for a robust body, rich caramel malt profiles, and a slightly higher alcohol content.

Schwarzbier

Proof that you can’t judge a beer by its colour, the Schwarzbier is a beautiful hybrid of a dark roast and a light lager. While it pours as dark as a stout, it completely avoids heavy sweetness. Instead, it pairs the rich, roasted coffee and dark chocolate notes of toasted malts with the clean, easy-drinking finish of a cold-fermented lager.

11 Best Lagers in Australia

1. Pilsner Urquell

As we mentioned, Pilsner Urquell has been made the same way since it created the style back in 1842. It’s still brewed with soft artesian well water from Plzeň, Moravian malted barley, Saaz hops, and the original H-strain yeast, which was brought to the Czech Republic from Germany in the early 1800s.

Pilsner Urquell Key Stats

• ABV: 4.4%
• Price: from AUD$18 for a six-pack

Flavour profile:

• Nose: Aromas of freshly-baked bread, cereal grains, sweet corn, honey, and floral hops.
• Taste: Bready malts, honey, fresh cut grass, pepper, and floral, earthy noble hops.
• Finish: The finish is crisp, clean, very refreshing, and ends with a spicy hit of floral hops that leaves you craving at least one more.
• Key feature: Made using the traditional triple-decoction mashing process to create a complex, crisp, memorable flavour profile.
• Best for: Pilsner Urquell has stood the test of time for a reason. This is a great beer choice for drinkers looking for a light, refreshing lager with some depth.

2. Corona Extra

Cracking open a Corona Extra and, regardless of where you actually are, you get the feeling that you’re sitting on a tropical beach on a sundrenched day. Beers don’t get much more “no frills” than Corona Extra, and that’s not a bad thing. Brewed with simple ingredients like water, malted barley, select hops, yeast, and corn, it’s an easy-drinking, memorable beer that belongs in your fridge for every season.

Corona Extra Key Stats

• ABV: 4.6%
• Price: from AUD$21.95 for a six-pack

Flavour profile:

• Nose: Cereal grains, bready malts, orange peels, and herbal, floral hops are prevalent on the nose.
• Taste: Sipping it reveals flavours of sweet corn, fruit, honey, citrus zest, hay, and floral, earthy hops.
• Finish: It all ends with a clean, dry finish featuring a mix of honey sweetness, corn, and gentle floral hops.
• Key feature: While we don’t often suggest adding fruit or other ingredients to your favorite beer, a lime wedge is a must, as it adds the perfect complementary tart sweetness to the malty beer.
• Best for: Drinkers hoping to go to the beach or at least get the feeling that their feet are in the sand, even if they’re stuck in the middle of a bustling city.

3. Great Northern Super Crisp

There’s no arguing about the popularity of Great Northern Super Crisp. It’s arguably the best-selling lager in all of Australia. As the name suggests, it’s a clean, crisp, very refreshing, light lager. Brewed with water, Australian-grown Pale malt, lager yeast, specially-selected hops, and malt extract, it’s as easy-drinking and light as lagers get.

Great Northern Super Crisp Key Stats

• ABV: 3.5%
• Price: from AUD$20.99 for a six-pack

Flavour profile:

• Nose: There are notes of cereal grains, sweet caramel, fruit, honey, and light floral hops.
• Taste: The palate is centered on notes of sweet corn, grains, ripe fruit, hay, and earthy, herbal hops.
• Finish: The finish is crisp, dry, and a nice blend of sweetness and gentle bitterness.
• Key feature: If you want to drink a classic, crushable lager made in Australia instead of one made in Europe or the US, this is the beer for you.
• Best for: This is a great choice for anyone planning to drink a few beers in one sitting, as its 3.5% ABV makes it easily sessionable.

4. Carlton Draught

This popular Australian pale lager is brewed with water, malted barley, a proprietary yeast strain, specially selected hops, and cane sugar. The result is an exceptionally easy-drinking, crisp, clean lager for all occasions. It’s a bar and pub staple for good reason.

Carlton Draught Key Stats

• ABV: 4.6%
• Price: from AUD$20.99 for a six-pack

Flavour profile

• Nose: Cereal grains, caramel, honey, and floral, herbal hops on the nose.
• Taste: Sipping it reveals flavours like honey, hay, caramel hops, and gently bitter, floral hops.
• Finish: The finish is dry, crisp, and ending with a nice mix of sweetness and hop bitterness, leaving you craving one more.
• Key feature: While most beers don’t include cane sugar, it’s used in this beer to add lightness to the body, sweetness, and a dry finish.
• Best for: As beers that “taste like beer” go, you’ll have a hard time topping the appeal of Carlton Draught. This is as classic and easy-drinking as beer gets.

5. Asahi Super Dry

With a name like Asahi Super Dry, you should have a decent idea about what you’re in for when you crack open one of these lagers. This pale rice lager is made with water, malted barley, corn, hops, and rice. The well-known crisp, dry flavour comes from the addition of its proprietary Asahi Yeast Strain No. 318.

Asahi Super Dry Key Stats

• ABV: 5%
• Price: from AUD$19.95 for a six-pack

Flavour profile:

• Nose: You’ll be greeted with welcoming aromas of cereal grains, barley, honey, yeasty scents, and floral hops.
• Taste: Flavours include freshly baked bread, orange peels, honey, corn, sweet rice, and floral, earthy hops.
• Finish: The finish is effortlessly clean and perfectly dry. This is the kind of beer you’ll reach for instinctively on a hot, sunny day.
• Key feature: While many lagers are made with barley or even corn, Asahi Super Dry gets extra flavour from the use of rice as well.
• Best for: Drinkers who prefer their beer to finish dry and extra crisp, will love the overall flavour profile of this exceptional beer.

6. White Bay Lager

As it should be, when the team at White Bay first powered on the lights at their Balmain brewery, they knew the first style they needed to nail was the lager – and nail it they did, with the brewery’s core lager release having become a mainstay in the Australian beer scene ever since the brand’s launch in 2020.

White Bay Lager Key Stats

• ABV: 4.7%
• Price: from AUD$25.00 for a six-pack

Flavour profile:

• Nose: Clean bready malts, light floral aromas, and a touch of European spice.
• Taste: A refreshing, somewhat zesty flavor profile featuring crisp malt characteristics and traditional German hop notes.
• Finish: Highly refreshing and clean, leaving a crisp, dry palate suited to warm weather.
• Key feature: Brewed right in Sydney using traditional German malts and hops to replicate a classic European style with a local twist.
• Best for: The perfect end-of-a-hard-day beverage that pairs beautifully with a pub meal of fish and chips.

7. Beerfarm’s India Pale Lager

Beerfarm’s India Pale Lager has the honour of being the beer its brewers always wanted, but could never find. Rather than only delivering the crisp flavouring and dry finish of a lager, Beerfarm’s IPL is infused with tropical flavours developed across weeks of fermentation.

Beerfarm IPL Key Stats

• ABV: 5.2%
• Price: from AUD$24.00 for a six-pack

Flavour profile:

• Nose: Pronounced tropical aromatics, bright citrus, and a punchy, hop-forward bouquet.
• Taste: A unique combination of crisp lager dynamics layered with distinct hints of mango, passionfruit, and pawpaw.
• Finish: Hop-forward yet entirely clear, resolving in a crisp, dry finish that balances fruit sweetness with clean bitterness.
• Key feature: Infused with vibrant tropical flavors developed across an extended, multi-week fermentation process.
• Best for: Drinkers looking to transition from fruity pale ales over to something a bit more crisp, straightforward, and highly crushable.

8. Heaps Normal’s Another Lager

The goal in developing Another Lager was to create something well balanced that let you maintain your own: with only 0.5% ABV in each can keeping the wobbles firmly at bay.

But everyone knows what lager is supposed to taste like, and so the execution on a non-alcoholic attempt had to be perfect. Thankfully, they nailed the landing. The Another Lager hits the notes it needs to – crisp, clean, and refreshing – without knocking you out.

Heaps Normal’s Another Lager Key Stats

• ABV: 0.5%
• Price: from AUD$15.00 for a four-pack

Flavour profile:

• Nose: Subtle cereal grains, sweet pale malt, and understated, earthy hops.
• Taste: Exceptionally well-balanced with a clean malt complexity that mimics a standard-strength commercial lager.
• Finish: Crisp, clean, and refreshing, delivering the exact mouthfeel of a classic lager without the alcohol hit.
• Key feature: A highly technical non-alcoholic brew designed to mirror the exact depth, balance, and complexity of a full-strength counterpart.
• Best for: Anyone wanting to enjoy the social aspect and flavor of a great lager while keeping their balance firmly in check.

9. Mountain Culture Lager

Mountain Culture has an advantage over a lot of other Australian breweries, in that is has ready access to the sparkling clear spring waters of its home in the Blue Mountains. In this case, however, the folks at Mountain Culture have opted to cut the minerals out of its water to deliver something cleaner.

How do they do this? Well, by way of a reverse osmosis water filter, obviously! The result is worth it: an incredibly clean and crisp lager, made with the same care and attention as the rest of Mountain Culture’s lineup.

Mountain Culture’s Lager Key Stats

• ABV: 4.6%
• Price: from AUD$21.00 for a six-pack

Flavour profile:

• Nose: Earthy, herbal, and spicy hop character cleanly dominating the aromatics.
• Taste: Centred entirely on a pure expression of the grain, maintaining a flawless, traditional balance without any fruity ale interference.
• Finish: Incredibly crisp, sharp, and clean with zero lingering mineral aftertaste.
• Key feature: Brewed using a reverse osmosis water filter to completely soften the Blue Mountains water, perfectly matching the classical water profiles of Czech brewing.
• Best for: Purists who appreciate meticulous attention to water chemistry and a completely transparent, crisp grain profile.

10. Heads of Noosa Japanese Lager

Bringing an Australian twist to an international favourite, Heads of Noosa’s Japanese-style Lager is a local triumph. Created as a means of delivering Queensland with the high-quality taste it deserves, Heads of Noosa’s Japanese Lager brings the clean, dry finish of a Sopporo or Kirin, but delivers it through the lens of unapologetically Australian ingredients.

Heads of Noosa Japanese Lager Key Stats

• ABV: 4.5%
• Price: from AUD$23.00 for a six-pack

Flavour profile:

• Nose: Very clean, light starch, delicate white grain scents, and minimal hop interference.
• Taste: Exceptionally crisp and light on the palate, driven by a clean grain profile and premium local ingredients.
• Finish: An unapologetically dry, super-crisp, and thirst-quenching finish modeled after international dry rice lagers.
• Key feature: Brewed using premium, Australian-grown long or medium-grain rice and left to mature in the tanks significantly longer than standard ales.
• Best for: Rehydrating on a scorching hot day or enjoying as a post-surf refresher on the beach.

11. Mack Brewery’s Isbjørn Lager

Hailing from the icy tundras of Norway, Isbjorn delivers exactly the kind of refreshing taste you’d expect from a beer brewed in the arctic circle. Served best chilled, Isbjørn comes by way of the northernmost brewery in the world, Mack Brewery, which is situated in Tromsø.

Why does this matter? Well, unlike most beers we get Down Under, Isbjørn is brewed using water from the arctic – some of the highest quality water in the world – which actually does make a difference to how the beer ends up tasting. It’s arguably the most important ingredient, yet the one most people forget about when drinking beer.

Isbjørn Lager Key Stats

• ABV: 4.5%
• Price: from AUD$20 for a six-pack

Flavour profile:

• Nose: Pristine pale malts, fresh mountain air notes, and a subtle, traditional grassy hop aroma.
• Taste: An ultra-clean, straightforward European pale lager profile that values pure simplicity over heavy bitterness.
• Finish: Effortlessly refreshing, sharp, and best enjoyed when served bone-chilled.
• Key feature: Brewed at one of the northernmost commercial breweries in the world using pristine water sourced directly from the Arctic.
• Best for: Those who want to taste how high-quality water completely changes a beer’s profile while raising a glass to a Scandinavian classic.

Best Lagers at a Glance

#	Brand	Style	ABV	Origin	Key Feature / Characteristic
1	Pilsner Urquell	Bohemian Pilsner	4.4%	Czech Republic	Traditional triple-decoction mashing process; rich bready malt.
2	Corona Extra	Pale Lager (Adjunct)	4.6%	Mexico	Ultra-light, crisp macro-lager; best served with a fresh lime wedge.
3	Great Northern Super Crisp	Mid-Strength Lager	3.5%	Australia	Australia’s top-selling beer; highly refreshing and sessionable.
4	Carlton Draught	Australian Pale Lager	4.6%	Australia	Pub staple brewed with cane sugar for a light body and dry finish.
5	Asahi Super Dry	Japanese Rice Lager	5.0%	Japan	Brewed with rice and Asahi Yeast No. 318 for a bone-dry finish.
6	White Bay Lager	European-Style Lager	4.7%	Australia	Local Sydney craft beer brewed using traditional German malts and hops.
7	Beerfarm India Pale Lager	India Pale Lager (IPL)	5.2%	Australia	Extended multi-week fermentation that layers tropical fruit flavors into a crisp lager.
8	Heaps Normal Another Lager	Non-Alcoholic Lager	0.5%	Australia	Technical non-alcoholic brew that delivers classic lager complexity without the buzz.
9	Mountain Culture Lager	Czech-Style Lager	4.6%	Australia	Uses reverse osmosis filtration to soften water, mimicking classic Prague brewing.
10	Heads of Noosa Japanese Lager	Dry Rice Lager	4.5%	Australia	Brewed with Australian-grown rice and left to mature for an extended period.
11	Mack Brewery Isbjørn Lager	European Pale Lager	4.5%	Norway	Crisp, historical Scandinavian staple brewed using untouched Arctic water.

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Common Questions About Lager