DAB golden lager great quencher

GEOFF GRIGGS

Now that the warmer weather seems to have finally arrived, it's a good time for me to write about one of my favourite thirst-quenching golden lagers.

Although the beer in question is from Germany, it's not a hoppy pilsener or a malt-accented helles. It's brewed in a style that has its roots in the central German city of Dortmund.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Dortmund was an insignificant town of about 5000 people and its small pub-based breweries all produced ales, but that was soon to change. As Germany began to industrialise, Dortmund became a major centre for the coal and steel industries and the population grew.

In 1842, the Kronen (Crown) Brewery became the first Dortmund brewery to switch to the more modern technique of cold fermentation (lager brewing).

The style of lager it elected to brew was, as was usual for the time in Germany, a dark beer in the Munchner (Munich) style.

Over the next 50 years, a series of new, industrial lager breweries were established in Dortmund. Organised on a similar basis to the city's other industries, they operated on a far larger scale than had ever been seen in northern Germany.

As golden beers, particularly those in the pilsener style, gradually became popular, Dortmund's brewers developed their own lager style to satisfy the thirsts of the city's coal miners and steel workers.

Less bitter and maltier than the pilsener style, Dortmund's golden lager became so popular throughout Germany and the rest of Europe that the style became known simply as "export".

On the strength of its success, Dortmund became the biggest beer-producing city in Germany and one of the largest in the world.

Dortmund was heavily bombed in World War II and in the years after the war, as the city's industrial base gradually eroded, so did the market for the workers' favourite style of beer.

As a result, Dortmund's brewers gradually shifted away from export lagers and started to promote other styles, most notably Pilsener. Despite this, brewers in other countries as far afield as the United States and Japan still produce lagers in the Dortmunder export style.

Sadly, in the last 30 years, mergers and acquisitions have consolidated most of Dortmund's famous export-style beers under the ownership of one company.

Now part of the Radeberger group – in turn owned by the giant Oetker food company – the city's dominant brewer is the Dortmunder Actien Brauerei (DAB) – the word actien meaning "stock issuing". For some years the group's most well-known and widely distributed example of the Dortmunder export style, DAB Original, has been imported into New Zealand.

A Dortmunder lager is usually a shade darker than a pilsener – a burnished honey-gold colour, edging towards amber.

As US brewer and beer and food-matching protagonist Garrett Oliver notes, "It forsakes the effusive hop bitterness and aroma of pilsner, preferring a firm maltiness; a full bodied, slightly sweet palate; and a clean, dry finish."

When sampled fresh, DAB Original offers a bready aroma with plenty of floral hops. In the mouth, it is medium bodied, with early biscuit malty sweetness leading into a long, quenching, hop-driven finish. Sure, it's not the most exuberant style of beer in the world, but it does the job well and it's easy to see why it was so appealing to Dortmund's thirsty miners and steel workers at the end of a long working day.

When it comes to matching the style with food Oliver is, as always, full of suggestions: "You can think of Dortmunder export as pilsner's big brother – stronger, quieter, a bit less brash.

"Keep in mind that Dortmunder has a fuller malt character and that its bitterness is not as knife-like as that of pilsner. That gives it a bit more heft and makes it particularly nice with pork, burgers, seared venison, veal and plain grilled steak."

With its soothing malt sweetness and palate-cleansing hops, DAB Original is a great choice for most meat and fish cooked on the barbecue, but it's also ideally suited to delicately spiced Thai and Indian dishes.

DAB Original (4.8 per cent) is widely available in six packs of 330ml stubbies, or 500ml cans. My preference is always for the cans. Unlike bottles, they aren't susceptible to light-strike, and they usually work out cheaper. Just remember to check the date to ensure it's fresh stock.

A class act that I would pick over most of the big-name international lager brands, DAB Original retails for about $3.50 for a half-litre can, or less when on special at some supermarkets.

Think of it this way, for about the same price as a six-pack of some ho-hum big-name lager, four cans of DAB Original will reward you with the same volume (two litres) of a pretty decent German lager.

Cheers!

- The Marlborough Express