Dortmunder Export Lager
The city of Dortmund is located in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. Its rich brewing history dates back to at least 1266, with the first written mention of local brewers producing a gruit ale. Prior to the mid 1800s, beers were generally dark, murky, top-fermented ales, which often contained wheat.
The pale lager was first invented in 1842, originating in the town of Pilsen, Bohemia, now Czech Republic. With the growing popularity of pilsner, Vienna, Munich, and Dortmund were inspired to create their own unique lagers. Export lager was first brewed by Dortmund Union Brewery in 1873. It served as Dortmund’s contribution to the lager revolution, emerging as a distinct style that provided a balance between the malt-forward flavours of a helles lager and the bitter base of a pilsner.
What is a Dortmunder Export Lager?
Most often described as striking a balance between a helles and a pilsner, Dortmunder’s trademark flavour can be attributed to its water composition. Due to its mineral-rich water supply, the carbonates and chlorides add a fuller body to the beer, while sulfates contribute to a sharper finish. A Dortmunder export uses few hops than a pilsner, and slightly darker malts to add sweetness to counteract its more naturally bitter finish. This delicate combination has led to a well-balanced, medium-hopped lager with low to medium malt sweetness.
While this style of beer was commonly referred to a Dortmunder export, the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) now refers to the style as a German helles exportbier – helles meaning that the beer is pale, and export referring to its slightly higher ABV, ranging from 4.8% to 6.0%.
History of Dortmunder Export
The development of Dortmunder Export lager can, in part, be traced back to the implementation of the German Beer Tax Law in 1872. The Reinheitsgebot, originally a Bavarian law, restricted the ingredients in beer to barley, hops, and water (later including yeast). This purity law was ultimately integrated into the national beer tax framework following unification of the German Empire in 1871. With more stringent regulations on beer production, brewers turned to innovation to create new beer styles that fit within the parameters of the new brewing framework.
Advances in Brewing Technology
The implementation of the national beer purity laws coincided with the proliferation of the larger revolution across Europe. From the early part of the 19th century, advancements in brewing and refrigeration technology led to dramatic changes within the beer landscape. Specifically, the advent of hot-air kilns to produce pale malts through the use of indirect heat, and the evolution of refrigeration techniques really gave rise to the development of pale lagers.
Dortmunder Actien Brauerei (DAB), a Dortmund brewery established in 1968, was an early adopter of the “refrigeration machine,” which provided a consistent and efficient system for cool fermentation and maturation required for brewing lagers. It was actually Nobel prize winner Carl Von Linde, the physicist credited for inventing the technology, who supervised the installation of the refrigeration unit at DAB.
Dortmunder Through the Ages
For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Dortmund was predominantly a steel-making and coal-mining city. Nicknamed the “Burton of Germany,” Dortmund was a prodigious brewing center supported by a huge population of thirsty industrial workers. In 1873, a number of local brewers banded together to form Dortmunder Union Brewery (DUB).
The brewery made two pale lagers, a regular and an “export,” with an elevated ABV of 5.5%, for wider distribution. The export version of the beer was extremely popular within the city and beyond, leading Dortmunder Export became the first famous pale lager in Germany. Although Dortmund was devasted by World War II, the city and its breweries were rebuilt following the war. Dortmunder Export lagers became the most popular beer style across Germany until 1970, when it was surpassed by pilsner.
A refreshing brew for all seasons, a Dortmunder export really hits the spot on a hot summer’s day. For a great local version of this classic German brew, try Godspeed’s Otsukaresama
(Leah is a Toronto based freelance writer as well as the Beer Boss and a server at C’est What)