Great Lakes Brewing Co.
Cleveland, OH
Available:
In the Middle Ages, the beer brewed in Dortmund was so popular that it required armed escorts when it was exported to other towns. Legend has it that in order to protect the interests of their own brewers, the towns sent posses to ambush the transports. If the posses were then apprehended by the Dortmunders, they were drowned in beer…thus the original “dead soldiers.”
ABV: 5.8
ABW: 4.6
Color: golden
Bitterness: 30
Original gravity: 1056
Love that deep gold color. Its balance is impeccable, and it proves the point that a very drinkable beer can also show an incredible degree of character. Notes of honeyed malt, biscuit, citrus and melon, combined with more subtle, herbal, grassy notes. Crisp, hoppy finish. Some pleasant "clinging" on the palate, but still clean all the way through. This is one classy beer! Give me a liter mug, fill it to the top with this beer, and I will be a happy man!
The Dortmunder or export style of lager can be a fairly tough one to pin down, sitting as it does somewhere between the austerity of a pilsner and the approachability of a helles, and yet stronger than both. Where words fail, however, taste can often succeed, as it does with this beer. Although perhaps a little darker than typical, its dry and faintly nutty, toasted malt nose and firm, almost chewy maltiness are what come to mind when I think of a Dortmunder, and probably explains why it is, as the neckband says, a "consistent gold medalist."
John Hansell is an equal-opportunity drinker. He writes about beer, wine and spirits. He is the creator, publisher & editor of Malt Advocate, a magazine for the whisky enthusiast.
Stephen Beaumont boarded his first plane at the age of 15 and hasn't looked back since, obsessing about travel to the point that he gets nervous if he doesn't have a ticket or two stacked on the corner of his desk. When he’s not running around in search of new taste experiences, he makes his home in Toronto, where a new cultural experience is only as far away as the next neighborhood.
After spending a couple of years in Germany, I really missed all the many high quality beers when coming back to the USA. These days, the craft beer renaissance in the USA and the multi-national conglomerate beverage companies buying up the German brewers are starting to reverse the trend. But most American craft brewers start and often just stick with ales — easy, simpler. I like ales, but I really like German lagers, weizen and pilsners, too.
This Dortmunder Gold from Great Lakes nails it! It’s like sitting in a small Gasthaus somewhere in northern Germany and asking for “ein bier”. Very happy to have discovered this one.