Roggenbier

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Roggenbier ranges from copper to dark brown. The colour can be lighter, but typically, the use of rye malt aims to provide a bread-like, slightly spicy flavour, which comes from darker malts, hence the darker colour of rye beers.

What is Roggenbier?

Roggenbier is German for "rye beer". It is a German-style rye beer, with the proportion of rye malt being at least 30% but generally not exceeding 60%.

Modern roggenbier is of medium strength and relatively dark in colour. Its taste is notably spicy and grainy. Roggenbier is brewed with the same type of yeast as hefeweizen, which imparts banana and clove notes typical of wheat beer.

Origin Story

In Bavaria, rye malts were used in beer production until the late 15th century. Following a prolonged period of poor harvests, it was ruled in Bavaria that beer could only be made from barley. Wheat and rye were to be reserved for breadmaking. This law is known as the Reinheitsgebot, or the Purity Law. As a result, roggenbier disappeared from the scene for almost 500 years.

In the late 1980s, rye beer production resumed near Regensburg in Bavaria. The modern version of roggenbier typically has an alcohol content of around 5%, a fairly dark colour, and a grainy taste.