Embracing new flavours and international influences, a new generation of brewers has brought the ordinary lager into a new age.

If there were ever a drink we thought could never be in danger of falling out of favour with the wider Australian public, it’s lager. Pale, fizzy and refreshing after a big day, it’s not a stretch to say that for decades, a good part of Australian drinking culture has centred on the stuff. Lager remains by far Australia’s most popular style of beer – not only as the default choice for most beer drinkers at pubs and clubs across the nation, but as a core release for craft breweries as well.

Of course, this fact has always co-existed alongside the inconvenient truth that some lager simply isn’t that nice to drink. Simple, malty and often rather gassy, recent years have seen younger drinkers in particular eschew mass-market lagers for more complex drops, especially hazy pale ales and XPAs. You could argue that craft beer as a category has made its name on running as far away from ho-hum lager as possible. And with countless brands all promising the same super-crisp, thirst-quenching, fair-dinkum, true-blue drinking experience – with added flavour and fun packaging – it felt for a while that lager might fall out of fashion altogether.

Within this, however, some breweries spied an opportunity. Realising that Australia’s mass-market lager drinkers are unlikely to ever change their preferences, they set about making lagers that appealed to those seeking more full-bodied, complex profiles of taste and texture. Lager has to be refreshing and sessionable, of course, but why couldn’t it be just a little more interesting? Perhaps it’s a natural settling, a middle ground between the quintuple-hopped, oat milk, strawberry lemonade stouts of craft beer’s wildest years and lager’s proudly plain-Jane palate.

Since then, many craft breweries have been racing to market with unique spins on the style, looking past big, yeasty, gassy lagers for more rounded formulations. Hops, which often play a background to yeast in flavouring more traditional lagers, are used in a much more pronounced way, adding a light fruitiness and spiciness to balance out the classic bready tones that some drinkers simply can’t get around.

As a result, lagers are finding their way back into the affections of resolute craft beer drinkers. In this year’s GABS Hottest 100, six lagers, all of which were unique takes on the style, cracked the top 50, showcasing not just the diversity of lagers that actually exist out there, but also the energy surrounding the iconic beer style. According to Australia’s most discerning drinkers, these are five to try.

1. Mountain Goat GOAT Very Enjoyable Beer

It’s nothing new – but it’s remained a staple for good reason. One of the first big craft brewers to bring a lager to market, Victoria’s own Mountain Goat set the template for many crafty lagers to come with GOAT: a paler, less fizzy take on the style that’s made to appeal as much to pale ale fans as it is to longtime lager drinkers. Stripped-back, one-size-fits-all complexity is the name of the game here, with just the right balance of sessionable ‘beeryness’ and bright citrus.

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2. Isbjorn Lager

A lager that celebrates the wilderness where it’s made, Isbjorn is the kind of beer that you’d dream of drinking in your log cabin after a long day hunting elk in the tundra (if that’s your sort of thing, of course). An extra pale lager brewed in the icy northern reaches of Norway since 1877 (it’s the only beer brewed in the Arctic circle, for that matter), it fits snugly into the pilsner-adjacent lager category that Scandinavia is fond of (think Trost and Carlsberg), fusing lager’s eminent crispness with a subtle hop sweetness.

3. Lumen Lager

You know that subtle sense of superiority Crown Lager drinkers are renowned for? Lumen aims to bring that air into the 21st century with a more modern look, more refreshing taste and, most importantly, more premium feel. Really showing off the complexity that lager can have when skillful brewing techniques are employed, Lumen is extraordinarily clean and smooth yet full of flavour. It’s slightly zingier than lagers of yore, with a definite note of citrus and subtle hops. Plus, the black glass bottle is both stylish and stops any harsh Aussie sun damaging the liquid inside.

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4. Heads of Noosa Brewing Co Japanese Lager

While everyone’s had an Asahi at some point, Heads of Noosa sought to highlight the unique style of Japanese lagers that aficionados have come to love, namely those made with rice. When combined with barley to make beer, rice lends a wonderful cleanliness and sweetness to lager, allowing the more subtle hop notes to shine through, as showcased in this brew.

5. Better Beer’s Zero-Carb Beer

One of the most successful stories in the recent history of beer, the project from The Inspired Unemployed boys set out to make the impossible: a classic, Aussie-style lager that delivers big on the flavour without the carbs. As the droves of calorie-conscious Aussies who have flocked to Better Beer will attest, they’ve delivered in spades.