Dark Lagers
The two basic types of beers are ales and lagers. Ales are
fermented at warmer temperatures with yeast that thrives at those
temperatures and that do most of their work at the top of the
fermentation tank, hence the term "top fermenting" is used when
discussing ales. Lagers, on the other hand, utilize yeast that work
at cooler temperatures and do most of their fermenting near the
bottom of the tank, hence the term "bottom fermenting" is applied to
lagers.
The origins of modern lagers date to Austria (Vienna) in
the early nineteenth century. Anton Dreher is credited with brewing
the very first lager in 1836. Prior to that time, all beers being
brewed were ales, but Dreher was able to isolate a strain of yeast
that fermented at lower, lager temperatures and created a beer that
was brewed entirely with that yeast. His creation eventually became
the Vienna Lager.
German brewers quickly adopted Dreher's creation and brewed Vienna
lagers in Bavaria for years, though very few Vienna lagers can be
found in Europe today. In the late nineteenth century, German
brewers started brewing the Marzen, or Oktoberfest style of beer
which quickly became more popular than the Vienna Lager.
German brewers also created a dark, rich lager known as the Munich
Dunkel which is still popular in Bavaria and through many parts of
the world today.
Food
Pairings
Dark Lagers are wonderful beers to drink on cool, Fall days.
Their malty richness and pleasant, sweet flavors also tend to pair
well with a variety of foods. Most of them are also strong enough in
flavor to stand up to spicy dishes, barbecue and other flavorful
foods.
Munich Dunkel
Darker
than the Oktoberfest beers but also from Munich are the Munich
Dunkel beers. In German, the word “dunkel” simply means dark.
Munich Dunkels are typically dark brown beers that are heavy on
malt flavors (sweet), in part because of the moderately carbonate
water in the Munich area.
Dark
as they are, Munich Dunkels are not as dark nor as strong as another
dark lager from Munich, the Doppelbock.
Otherwise, they are certainly far darker than their cousin, the
Munich Helles lager. In German, Helles means pale and they are
discussed further in our article on Pale
Lagers.
