Stella Artois is without doubt one of the hottest beers on this planet and will be discovered nearly in all places beer is bought. The crisp style of Stella makes it a favourite beer of many lager drinkers with the refreshing taste notably suited to scorching summer time days.
As extra of an ale drinker and lover of craft beers, I are likely to solely go for the mass-produced lagers when the climate dictates it. Stella Artois is almost at all times my most popular pilsner lager however generally even your favourite beer will get boring. What’s it about Stella that provides it that particular taste cherished by so many, and what beers are much like Stella Artois?
All Issues Stella
The brewing custom of Stella Artois dates again to 1366 and a small brewery within the city of Leuven in Belgium often called the Den Hoorn brewery. A small tavern that brewed its personal beer on the market to hunters, they operated beneath the signal of a searching horn. To today, all Stella Artois packaging options the unique horn of the tavern and proudly boasts “Anno 1366” (born in 1366).
It wasn’t till 1717 when the pinnacle brewer Sébastien Artois bought the brewery it turned often called the Brouwerij Artois.
Stella Artois because the worldwide lager we all know and love in the present day was first brewed in 1926 as a Christmas reward to the villagers of Leuven. Paying homage to the Christmas Star, it was named Stella (Latin for star) and Artois, after all, after the previous head brewer and the identify of the brewery.
All bottles of Stella nonetheless function a star on the label. First bought as a seasonal beer solely within the winter, it was ultimately obtainable all yr spherical with exports to the broader European market beginning in 1930.
Via a sequence of mergers of main brewing conglomerates, first InterBrew, then InBev, and eventually Anheuser-Busch InBev, Stella Artois is now brewed within the US and different international markets such because the UK, Australia, Hungary, and Canada in addition to nonetheless being produced for export in Belgium.
What Kind of Beer is Stella Artois?
Sometimes called a world lager it falls into the identical group of different prestigious beer manufacturers reminiscent of Becks, Peroni, Heineken, Carlsberg, or Kronenbourg to call however a couple of. Simply because we class all these as worldwide lagers nonetheless doesn’t imply all of them have the identical style.
Stella Artois is finest described as a Belgian pilsner-style lager. Utilizing simply 4 substances of malted barley, water, hops, and yeast, it options the Saaz hops favored by Czech lagers often called pilsners.
A purist might argue to be a pilsner, the beer has to return from the Czech Republic or the area often called Bavaria previously. These beer snobs labeled Stella as a world lager, with a couple of adjunct flavors much like American adjunct lagers reminiscent of Bud Gentle, Michelob Extremely, or Coors Gentle.
Tasting Notes and the Distinct Taste Profile of Stella Artois
Stella Artois is an easy-to-drink worldwide lager with a lightweight, crisp, and barely floral style. A backside fermented beer, it’s brewed as a pilsner utilizing high-quality substances with simply malted barley and maize, water, yeast, and noble hops. It’s a transparent golden straw colour with a foamy white head, which retains an honest quantity of lacing when it’s poured.
Using Saaz hops provides it a refined hop bitterness with an IBU of 25 (it was initially 30). A dry crisp pilsner it combines the sweetness of malted barley with a floral aroma and herbaceous bitterness from these noble Saaz hops.
The alcohol content material of 5% ABV locations it firmly within the premium lager class, nevertheless it’s nonetheless weaker than many craft beers. In England, Stella was 5.2% ABV and generally often called “spouse beater” because of the many altercations with the numerous different after consuming an excessive amount of Stella however during the last decade has launched decrease ABV variations of Stella, so perhaps now it’s simply “spouse shouter”!
An award-winning beer through the years, Stella Artois is revered as the most effective imported European beers by American beer shoppers and stays Belgium’s best-sold beer.
10 Beers Just like Stella Artois
We’re not right here as an advert for Stella Artois, though it’s a traditional beer and undoubtedly one among my favourite pale lagers. The pure substances and clear taste missing in lots of different mass-produced sorts of beer make it ideally suited for warm summer time days with mates on a picnic or as a beer at festivals held all through the summer time.
Nevertheless, generally there’s an excessive amount of of an excellent factor and perhaps you wish to attempt a distinct pilsner or lager however one which retains the identical distinct style of Stella Artois. Listed here are 10 beers that ought to quench that Stella-seeking thirst.
Pilsner Urquell
Well-known for its declare to be the first-ever pale ale, Pilsner Urquell has a crisp style that’s fairly near that of Stella Artois however is a bit hoppier and options hints of caramel.
Originating from the Czech Republic, it is a true pilsner and repeatedly options on the listing of best-selling Czech beer manufacturers though it may be fairly arduous to seek out right here within the US. You might want to look on-line or examine your native beer specialty shops.
Jupiler
Usually described as “the considering man’s Stella”, Jupiler is a Belgian lager that was first brewed in 1966 on the Piedboeuf Brewery in Jupille-sur-Meuse within the area of Liège, Belgium. Like Stella Artois, it’s now owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev however far outsells Stella Artois in Belgium with practically a 40% share of the market.
Belgian beer fanatics usually joke about how we Individuals take into account Stella Artois as an aesthetic beer whereas in Belgium Stella is taken into account a really strange common beer at finest. Make your individual thoughts up if you pattern Jupiler your self!
The style is sort of a extra advanced Stella Artois with the flavors of key substances reminiscent of hops, malt, and grain with even a slight trace of fruit. With an ABV of 5.5%, it’s barely stronger than Stella so can provide you extra of a buzz if that’s the type of factor you might be in search of.
One other beauty of Juniper is the alcohol-free model which is extensively obtainable, even right here within the US. If in case you have a pal who doesn’t drink there’s no want for them to overlook out on the style of this crisp lager at your subsequent gathering.
Heineken
No doubt, Heineken lager is essentially the most well-known of the beers we take into account much like Stella Artois. In every single place beer is bought you’ll find Heineken in its distinctive inexperienced bottles and it’s now produced in over 70 nations worldwide together with breweries in Africa and the Center East, Asia Pacific the USA, and naturally Europe.
(Warning! Though Al Ahram Drinks in Egypt is owned by Heineken and produce a beer known as Stella, don’t be fooled into considering this beer is much like Stella Artois. Trendy-day Egyptian beers aren’t identified for his or her flavors, and Stella (Egypt) lacks the hoppy taste and balanced style of European model Stella Artois!)
A European pale lager, Heineken shares lots of the identical pilsner flavors as Stella Artois. Though not fairly as hoppy, Heineken does a candy, biscuity malt taste and is made with simply barley, hops, water and yeast.
With an IBU of 19 it’s barely much less bitter than Stella Artois however nonetheless enjoys that very same skunky aftertaste discovered in lots of European-style pilsners. A 5percentABV beer as normal it additionally affords an analogous energy to Stella Artois.
Heineken’s different main worldwide lager model, Amstel Gentle affords a a lot lighter various to Stella with much less of a hoppy taste making it simpler to drink in hotter temperatures like a scorching summer time day down the seaside.
Peroni Nastro Azzuro
One other of Europe’s best-selling beers is Peroni which hails from Italy this time and has a pale physique much like Stella Artois. With an ABV of 5.1% and an IBU the identical as Stella at 24, Peroni contains a candy malt style with a stability of bitterness. It’s nearly just like the Italian clone of Stella Artois however with out an excessive amount of of the hoppiness that comes from the Saaz hops in Stella.
Identical to Stella Artois, Birra Peroni is extensively obtainable right here within the States, not simply in Italian eating places however in bars, liquor shops, and from specialist distributors. Accessible in each cans and bottles it can be discovered in lots of bars the place they’ve beer on faucet.
Harp Lager
Brewed on the St James Gate brewery in Dublin, higher identified within the beer trade for its Guinness manufacturing, Harp is a European lager that contains a bready malt taste alongside a floral hoppy bitterness.
With an alcohol by content material quantity of 4.5% and an IBU score of 21, Harp is a smooth-tasting beer that could be a nice, lighter various to Stella Artois.
Blue Moon
One of many world’s best-selling craft beer manufacturers, Blue Moon is a Belgian-style witbier that initially hails from Colorado, US.
The “Belgian White” moniker on the label refers back to the beer’s mild nearly white colour. With an analogous balanced taste profile to Stella, Blue Moon is extra of a wheat-tasting beer slightly than hoppy. With a citrusy taste, many beer bars serve Blue Moon accompanied by an orange slice.
Present in most bars throughout the US and now even making inroads internationally, in case you are in search of a fruitier various to Stella Artois, this pale ale suits the invoice.
Hoegaarden
If Blue Moon sounded engaging to you, then why not attempt a conventional Belgian brewed wheat beer, Hoegaarden? Straightforward to identify by the distinctive glasses (like massive glass planting pots), Hoegaarden is spiced with orange peel and coriander to provide a bitter and spicy chunk to each drink. It nonetheless options that very same skunk aroma although and the sunshine style loved by followers of Stella Artois.
Unfiltered, Hoegaarden has a extra cloudy look than the opposite alternate options to Stella Artois we have now checked out however many consider this brewing model with murky sediment stays enhances the advanced flavors of the beer.
Additionally a white beer like Blue Moon, Hoegaarden might be the spiciest of the alternate options to Stella on our listing.
Crown Lager
If trying additional afield for a Stella Artois various, Crown is an Australian beer acknowledged as the perfect premium lager in Australia. Initially, it was brewed as “Fosters Crown Lager” and solely obtainable as a beer providing to visiting VIPs to Australia.
It wasn’t till the 1954 Royal go to of Queen Elizabeth II that Carlton & United Breweries, the most important Australia-Owned beer model, celebrated the event by releasing what we all know in the present day as Crown Lager.
A European-style lager, with an attractive gold colour it proudly boasts it makes use of 100% Australian malt but nonetheless has the cleaner style present in pilsner-style lagers reminiscent of Stella.
At 4.9% alcohol by quantity, it’s an analogous energy to Stella Artois and is available in a particular bottle that simply screams “elegant” premium lager. Positively one price seeking out!
Stella Artois Midnight Lager
Not sometimes a beer much like the pale worldwide lager we all know and love as Stella Artois, this restricted version black lager beer is a seasonal reward in a lot the identical manner Stella Artois was born.
Not like the normal counterpart pale ale, Midnight Lager is brewed solely right here within the US by the Anheuser-Busch brewery at Baldwinsville in New York.
A black lager, the distinctive jet black colour with a brown frothy head comes from the usage of roasted darkish malts which provides this seasonal beer a taste with hints of darkish chocolate and espresso espresso.
Using the normal Saaz hops with the addition of American Herkules balances with the roasty taste of the malts. Total an honest winter beer with heat notes, an ideal praise to the crisp colder climate but nonetheless retaining that slight bitterness of a pilsner.
With an ABV of 5.4% its an analogous energy to conventional Stella Artois and is accessible in distinctive black glass 12 oz bottle 6-packs from Halloween onwards, simply in time for the festive vacation season.
Beers Just like Stella: Remaining Ideas
Even essentially the most hardened Stella Artois drinkers might often really feel like mixing it up a bit and venturing into new lager territories. Luckily, as a Belgian pilsner beer, there are lots of beers which are much like Stella Artois obtainable right here within the US and overseas.
Usually, most European pilsners will match the invoice particularly these from Belgium or the Czech Republic. Using these attribute noble hops like Saaz is what provides Stella Artois that skunky aroma and a reasonable stage of bitterness.
With a bitterness score of round 24 IBUs, you’re not fairly IPA ranges of bitterness but, however actually a bit extra chunk than many normal mass-produced lagers.
With their “reassuringly costly” promoting marketing campaign and the heritage that stretches again over 600 years, the parents at Stella have achieved an excellent job of persuading us that Stella Artois is an aesthetic lager.
Nevertheless, ask any Belgian beer fanatic and they’re going to describe Stella Artois as a mean beer at finest, there are lots extra European pilsner beers that use pure substances and smaller brews for a {smooth} balanced malty but hop-infused style.
Subsequent time you fancy reaching out for a Stella Artois, why not attempt one of many Stella Options we listed above or go even additional out of your consolation zone and check out one of many many tremendous European lagers we didn’t but cowl? You might be pleasantly stunned! Tell us in case you discover any beer which you discover matches that Stella’s style and even betters it.
