Today, Halcyon Brewing in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood releases a new beer, a Dortmunder. This one was brewed in collaboration with Larry Rock, who currently works with White Bluffs Brewing but is a local beer biz legend for his many roles and decades of service.
Dortmunder. It’s not just fun to say, it’s a damn fine style of beer. A light lager, almost a pilsner, with a slightly maltier body, but still refreshing and crisp. “More malt fullness and higher ABV than Pilsner, but not as much hop flavor and aroma,” is how Chuckanut Brewery describes its Dort. And who’d know better than one of the most highly decorated lager-focused breweries in the nation? It falls somewhere between pilsner and helles, or maybe it is adjacent to those two better-known styles.
Today’s Lesson: What is Dortmunder?
Elevator Speech: Dortmunder is a German-style, relatively light-bodied lager. A bit stronger, with more body than a helles lager, not quite as hoppy as a pilsner. Historically, it was (and still is) brewed by breweries like Kronen and DAB in Dortmund, Germany.
More Depth: Once upon a time, I optimistically mused about Dortmunder becoming “the new IPA.” Why? First, Dortmunder is a fun-to-say, catchy, memorable word. Second, like India Pale Ale, Dortmunder comes with a great backstory. Of course, it’s also a lovely style of beer.
The city of Dortmund (pop. approx. 600,000) is located in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. Dortmunder is a term for someone or something from Dortmund. That’s why we capitalize it; Dortmunder is a proper noun. In terms of brands, we’re talking about the beer commonly known as DAB, DAB Original, or DAB Export. Dortmunder Actien Brauerei (DAB) is pretty much synonymous with Dortmunder-style beer. Kronen is another brewery in Dortmund that brews this style of beer, but DAB acquired it back in the 1990s. Kronen Brauerei is actually much older than DAB, but the latter achieved greater visibility and recognition. Read on.
Almost universally, descriptions of Dortmunder say it falls somewhere between helles and pilsner. Crisp and light like helles, but a bit maltier and stronger in terms of ABV. Slightly more full-bodied and not quite so hoppy as a pilsner. They usually clock in somewhere just above 5 percent ABV. The water around Dortmund is considered high in sulfates, and some say that factor contributed to the original beer’s character as well.
In fact, Chuckanut Brewery says, “[When brewing our Dortmunder] we also mimic the hard water of Dortmund, which accentuates the hop bitterness & gives this lager a crisp, dry finish.” While American craft brewers always interpret tradition through their own creative lenses, it seems rather silly to call a beer a Dortmunder unless you’re aiming to make a beer that pretty closely mirrors the tradition.
History
About 150 years ago, in 1868, the Dortmunder Actien Brauerei (DAB) began brewing beer in Dortmund. It quickly grew into one of the most successful breweries of its time, and about 10 years after opening, it started exporting its flagship beer internationally, most notably to Africa, India, and Japan. Maybe I’m giving DAB too much credit, but I don’t think I’d be talking about Dortmunder right now if it weren’t for DAB.
Dortmunder Actien Brauerei was an early adopter of “refrigeration machines” in the late 19th century, which helped provide stable, year-round fermentation of this cold-fermented, lager-style beer. In fact, the installation of the original refrigeration equipment at Dortmunder Actien Brauerei was supervised by Nobel Prize winner Karl von Linde, the physicist credited with inventing the technology.
The adoption of this newfangled technology enabled the brewery to grow to an impressive size in its first two decades of existence, producing 100,000 hectoliters per year by the mid-1880s. That’s a very impressive number for that era. By 1913, the brewery was producing 250,000 hectoliters of beer per year. Again, a really, really impressive number for that era.
Surviving World Wars
The town and its namesake brewery survived World War I, but neither were so lucky the second time around. The entire town of Dortmund was essentially destroyed during World War II. By 1949, they’d rebuilt the brewery and resumed making beer.
DAB has modernized with the times and continues to brew and export beer. In the 1980s, it opened a state-of-the-art, new brewery. In the mid-90s, it took over Kronen. Today, DAB is part of the Radeberger Group, which is the largest brewery group in Germany. Dortmunder Actien Brauerei produces a number of different styles, but when Americans talk about DAB or Dortmunder, they’re talking about the original.
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