Dunkel beer, Munich's dark lager

Dunkel beer is the dark lager of Munich: copper to deep brown, smooth, and built on the bready, toasty flavor of Munich malt rather than on roast or bitterness. Dunkel simply means dark in German. For centuries a beer like this was what Bavarians drank every day, until the pale Helles took over. This guide explains what defines a Munich Dunkel, how strong it really is, where the style came from and how it differs from its dark neighbors.

What is Dunkel beer?

A Munich Dunkel is a bottom-fermented lager of normal strength. The style description of the European Beer Star, a brewing competition, asks for a medium to dark brown color and a strong malt aroma reminiscent of chocolate, bread or biscuit, which comes from dark Munich malt. Small amounts of roasted or caramel malt are allowed, the hop bitterness is clean and balanced, and the finished beer is filtered and clear.

The American Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) describes the style in similar terms: deeply toasted bread crust flavors, hints of chocolate, nuts or toffee, gentle bitterness and a fairly dry finish. What a Dunkel should not taste like matters just as much. Burnt, coffee-like or sharply roasted notes are a fault, and the beer should feel soft and rich without being sweet or heavy.

Bitterness is modest: the BJCP gives 18 to 28 IBU, the European Beer Star 15 to 25.

History of Munich Dunkel

According to the Oxford Companion to Beer, dark lager was the everyday beer of Bavaria for several centuries, and most of the beer brewed in the duchy when the purity law came into force in 1516 was a forerunner of today's Dunkel. The style as we know it took shape in the 19th century. The BJCP traces it to the 1830s at Spaten, when Munich malt had just been developed, a malt that brings a toasty, slightly caramelized character. Traditional decoction mashing deepens those flavors further.

The turn came at the end of the century. Spaten states that the first Munich Helles left its brewery on 21 March 1894, at a time when, in the brewery's words, people in Munich and across Germany drank only dark, sweet and malty beer. The golden Helles gradually became the city's standard, and Dunkel moved from everyday beer to specialty. It never disappeared: the Oxford Companion notes that it remains popular in Munich's beer halls and is still the beer that many small breweries in Franconia, in northern Bavaria, brew for their local markets; their versions tend to be drier and, according to the BJCP, more bitter than the Munich ones.

The style also traveled. Many Germans settled in the Americas in the 1800s, and the Oxford Companion records that Dunkel at one time enjoyed wide popularity in Mexico and the US. Writing in 2012, the Oxford Companion added that many American craft brewers were starting to brew their own versions.

Dunkel and the Munich breweries

Munich breweries still brew the style. The BJCP lists Hacker-Pschorr Münchner Dunkel and Hofbräuhaus Dunkel among its commercial examples of the style, next to beers from breweries elsewhere in Bavaria. Hacker-Pschorr states 12.7 °P and 5.0 percent for its version, brewed from water, barley malt, yeast and hops. If you want to know more about the houses themselves, the German pages on Hacker-Pschorr and Hofbräu tell their history; for a visit, see Hofbräuhaus Munich.

Dunkel, Schwarzbier and dark wheat beer

Three dark German beers are easily confused:

• Dunkel: bottom-fermented, medium to dark brown, malty and bready, with no real roast.
• Schwarzbier: also a lager, but dark brown to almost black, with light to medium roasted, coffee-like and licorice notes and more bitterness, according to the European Beer Star description.
• Dunkles Weißbier: a top-fermented wheat beer made with dark malt, with caramel and bread notes on top of the fruity and spicy wheat beer yeast character; see Hefeweizen.

And compared with a Dunkler Bock, a Dunkel is lighter in body and much lower in alcohol. The whole family of Bavarian styles is laid out on German beer types.

What to eat with Dunkel

The Oxford Companion calls Dunkel a fine partner for hearty Bavarian food. Good matches are a Schweinebraten with crackling, a pork knuckle or a plate of Bavarian dumplings; more dishes are on Bavarian food. As with any beer, a half liter (about 17 US fluid ounces) is a full serving, and it is best enjoyed in moderation. German readers find the Bavarian styles compared on Bayerische Biersorten.