Dunkel

Paulaner Dunkel

Dunkel (or Dunkles) is a dark German beer. Dunkel is the German word meaning dark, and dunkel beers typically range in colour from amber to dark reddish brown. They are characterized by their smooth malty flavour.

Dunkel, along with helles, is a traditional style brewed in Munich and popular throughout Bavaria. With alcohol concentrations of 4.5% to 6% by volume, dunkels are weaker than Doppelbocks, another traditional dark Bavarian beer. Dunkels are produced using Munich malts which give the Dunkel its colour. Other malts or flavours may also be added.

Dunkels were the original style of the Bavarian villages and countryside. Lighter-coloured lagers were not common until the later part of the 19th century when technological advances made them easier to produce.

Dunkels have a distinctive malty flavour that comes from a special brewing technique called triple decoction.

In some parts of Germany, such as North Rhine-Westphalia, Dunkelbier (also Kinderbier) refers to a sweet malt beer containing no alcohol (0%).

Most commonly, dunkel beers are dark lagers, but the term is also used to refer to dark wheat beers such as Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel. Dunkel weizen is another term used to refer to dark wheat beers, which are fruity and sweet with slightly more malt than their lighter counterpart, the hefeweizen.

Examples

• Andechser Dunkel
• Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel
• Beck's Dark
• Löwenbräu Dunkel Munich Dark
• Capital Munich Dark
• Hacker-Pschorr Münchner Dunkel
• Hofbräu München Dunkel
• Leinenkugel's Creamy Dark
• Lobko Dark Lager
• Paulaner Original Münchner Dunkel
• Sagres Bohemia
• St. Pauli Girl Special Dark
• Vitamalz
• Warsteiner Dunkel (Warsteiner Brauerei)

See also

• German beer
• Helles
• Doppelbock

External links

• Munich Dunkel - By K. Florian Klemp - All About Beer Magazine (Volume 23 Number 5 - November 2002)
• Style Guidelines on Dunkelweizen