Beer 101: Dark Beers

In this lesson of Beer 101, we venture over to the “Dark side”. Come along with me and my fellow O-girls as we learn about how dark beers taste and what makes them different from our Beer 101 professor Todd Worley!

What we learned about Dark Beers:

• Dark only refers to the color. The style of dark beer will determine how it tastes, alcohol volume, and the heft of the beer.
• The head on dark beers tends to be smaller and dissipates quicker.
• The color of a beer is usually determined by the natural color of the malt or the roast of the malt where the brewer will choose a malt that has been roasted the same way one would a coffee bean.

 

The beers we tasted:

            Warsteiner Dunkel

• German dunkels tend to be medium dark in color and have a very light body as well as an approachable flavor palate.

Köstritzer Schwarzbier

• This is a German black lager. It is basically the same as the lagers we tried before only that in the brewing process, the grains are toasted making the beer dark and adding a roasted flavor.

Weinstephan Dopplebock

• Weinstephan is the world’s oldest still operating brewery, founded in 1040 a.d.
• When bock beers were first brewed they were considered the stronger beer. Bock comes from the word for a ram or buck, and a dopplebock is considered double strong.
• This beer is very dark and has a rich body and bolder flavors of dry chocolate and coffee.

For our last video, we’ll learn about a very special beer that is also a special time of year: the Oktoberfest!