Polotmavé means half-dark, and the beer looks it: deep amber to copper, clear, under a large off-white head. Malt leads. Some versions taste dry, bready and a little biscuity; others turn sweet, with caramel, candy or a graham-cracker note. The spicy Czech hop flavour can be faint or strong, and a clean bitterness balances the finish. You may catch a hint of plum or berry. It feels soft and round in the mouth, often a little creamy, with gentle carbonation.
Where it comes from
The BJCP describes it as a Vienna-style lager that Czech brewers never stopped making. The style covers two Czech categories: the polotmavý ležák at 11–12.9 degrees Plato and the stronger polotmavé speciální pivo at 13–14.9. Some brewers blend a pale and a dark lager to make it. The small breweries that have opened across the Czech Republic have made it far easier to find.
Brewers start from Pilsner malt and caramel malts, sometimes with Vienna or Munich malt, and use soft water, Czech hops and Czech lager yeast.
Next to its neighbours
It can taste like a Vienna lager with more Czech late hops, or like a British bitter with a lot more caramel. Large breweries make it close to a Czech pilsner with darker malt and less hop; small breweries often push the hops, the malt or the sweetness further.
Czech Amber Lager in numbers
- Classic examples
- Bernard, Primátor, Chodovar, Bohemia Regent, Litovel, Pivovar Strakonice (Dudák)
- Original gravity
- 1.044–1.060
- Final gravity
- 1.013–1.017
- Czech names
- polotmavý ležák (11–12.9 °P); polotmavé speciální pivo (13–14.9 °P)
- Classic examples
- Bernard Jantarový ležák; Gambrinus Polotmavá 12°; Kozel Semi-Dark; Lobkowicz Démon 13; Primátor polotmavý 13°; Strakonický Dudák Klostermann polotmavý ležák 13°
- BJCP style
- 3C Czech Amber Lager
Sources
Checked .
- 3C. Czech Amber Lager, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
