German Beer Brands & Varieties (lager beer)

There is a wide variety of different types of German beers, such as:

Top-fermenting beers

Weizen/Weißbier — wheat beer 12-12.5° Plato, 5-5.6% ABV. Weizenbock — strong, dark, wheat beer. 16-17° Plato, 6.5-8% ABV. Berliner Weisse — a pale, very sour, wheat beer brewed in Berlin. Usually drunk with the addition of fruit syrup. 9° Plato, 2.5-5% ABV. Leipziger Gose — an amber, very sour, wheat beer with an addition of salt brewed around Leipzig. It disappeared between 1966 and 1985, when it was revived by Lothar Goldhahn. 10-12° Plato, 4-5% ABV. Roggenbier — a fairly dark beer made with rye, somewhat grainy flavour similar to bread, 4.5-6% ABV.

Bottom-fermenting beers

• Helles — a pale, malty lager from Bavaria of 11-12° Plato, 4.5-5% ABV
• Schwarzbier — a bottom-fermented, dark lager beer with a full, roasty, chocolatey flavor. 11-12° Plato, 4.5-5% ABV.
• Pilsener — a pale lager with a light body and a more prominent hop character. 11-12° Plato, 4.5-5% ABV. By far the most popular style, with around two thirds of the market.
• Export — a pale lager brewed around Dortmund that is fuller, maltier and less hoppy than Pilsner. 12-12.5° Plato, 5-5.5% ABV. Germany's most popular style in the 1950s and 1960s, it's becoming increasingly rare.
• Spezial — a pale, full, bitter-sweet and delicately hopped lager. 13-13.5° Plato, 5.5-5.7% ABV.
• Dunkel — dark lager which comes in two main varieties: the sweetish, malty Munich style and the drier, hoppy Franconian style
• Rauchbier — usually dark in color and smoky in taste from the use of smoked malt. A speciality of the Bamberg region. 12-13° Plato, 5-5.5% ABV.
• Bock — an amber, heavy-bodied, bitter-sweet lager. 16-17° Plato, 6.5-7% ABV.
• Dunkler Bock — a strong, full-bodied lager darkened by high-coloured malts. 16-17° Plato, 6.5-7% ABV.
• Maibock — a pale, strong lager brewed in the Spring. 16-17° Plato, 6.5-7% ABV.
• Doppelbock — a very strong, very full-bodied lager darkened by high-coloured malts. 18-28° Plato, 8-12% ABV.
• Eisbock — a freeze distilled variation of Doppelbock. 18-28° Plato, 9-15% ABV.
• Märzen — medium body, malty lagers that come in pale, amber and dark varieties. 13-14° Plato, 5.2-6% ABV. The type of beer traditionally served at the Munich Oktoberfest.

Hybrids (primary top fermentation, secondary bottom fermentation)

• Altbier — a dark amber, hoppy beer brewed around Düsseldorf and Lower Rhine. 11-12° Plato, 4.5-5% ABV.
• Kölsch — pale, light-bodied, beer which can only legally be brewed in the Cologne region. 11-12° Plato, 4.5-5% ABV.

Many of the kinds of beer are also available with the alcohol content reduced or added.

source: Wikipedia