Einbecker Dunkel

Brewed by Einbecker Brauhaus
Style: Dunkel
Einbeck, Germany

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

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In the bottle from the Huber Haus. A dark, dark brown color with a thick ivory head. This is just a beautiful beer. Strong aroma of bread dough and caramel maltiness. Good roasted flavor, but also tastes like malted milk. Has a medium body. Nice rings of lacing. Has a very low hop content. This was good in spite of the green bottle! Has a mid-palate sweetness and a tingly dry finish. I really like this one.

Bottle. Copper in color with no head. Chocolate and caramel notes. Roasty aroma. Medium bodied. Malty finish. Nice.

The bottle poured a clear dark garnet colored beverage with a medium sized frothy off-white head that was mostly diminishing and left good lacing on the glass. The aroma had a predominantly malt presence with notes of dark bread and toasted grains. The body was medium with lively carbonation and a somewhat watery texture. The finish was average in length and was lightly astringent. The initial flavor was lightly sweet and as it matured it became lightly bitter in the finish.

UPDATED: JUN 9, 2006 Full bottle, 6/9/06. Poured straight into a dimpled mug, raising a big stiff ecru foam. Kind of a sugary smell. No skunk here, even though it had been sitting on the loose bottle shelf. Definitely not a schwarzbier in taste, but a nice, easy dunkel. A bit thin on mouthfeel, and the sugar and graininess make a cousin to an American dark beer, but not in a bad way Easy drinking (if that head would ever go down), just a bit of bitter after-taste and milk sugar. Relatively light in alcohol and priced as an everyday beer.

Sampler from bottled labeled "Schwartzbier," Mar 6/06 Ah, no wonder this wasn’t quite so black as other Schwartz’ I’ve had. Distinctively brown in color and light in body. The green bottle allowed this import to get a bit skunked. Offers some toffee and caramel notes.

Keg at Roman’s and was listed as Schwarzbier: Pours to a translucent brown body with a dense off-white head. Excellent lacing. The aroma is sweet corn and vegetables. Notably, brocolli and lima beans. I’m not a fan of the aroma. The flavor is vegetal with some adjuncts. I don’t see a lot of black malt in this one. The palate is medium bodied and middle of the road.

UPDATED: NOV 14, 2009 Bottle. Barley - sweet corn syrup aroma. Dark brown with small head. Simple sugar and barley flavor. Not sure what trendiness has to do with the difference between dunkel and schwarzbier. This sample tasted on the old side as it was much sweeter than the typical dunkel - probably much better in Germany. Re-rate in Germany - actually a much light aroma and taste - much drier and hoppier. Very different but really can’t say I’d rate it much different - still not very impressive.

Bottle (330ml). Labelled Schwarzbier. Poured deep hazy brown with an average diminishing fizzy-foamy tan head. Faint aroma of roast malt, light chocolate, some sour cherry, light grain and hops. Taste is of slightly sour rye grain, chocolatey dark roast malt, hint of fruit and cashews - even tastes a little like a cola. Sharply lively mouthfeel, quite watery - decent beer, very solid nutty roastiness, pity about the weak body.

perhaps the best schwarzbier i have had, though that probably doesn’t say a lot. dark brown with beige head. nice malty aroma and flavor. solid.

bottled at home in Hannover ; aroma is faint, of nuts, hops and malt, maybe the strongest hint is roasted malt, compared with some nuts. Taste is more complex than I expected, the same dunkel character is in any other brew of this style but with a stronger palate and complexity. Again roasted malt is obvious. Nice brew and surprising

I was fortunate enough to enjoy this beer fresh on draught at a wonderful little pub in the Altstadt or "old town" of Hannover, Germany called the Broyhan-Haus. Einbeck beers are proudly featured here, and I enjoyed a few nice glasses of this wonderful beer. Einbecker Dunkel has been labeled as a schwarzbier or "black beer" for the American market. This really isn’t too far fetched, as schwarzbier, is just a darker, roaster, version of Munich Dunkles. Einbecker calls all their beers, bockbier, but their Dunkel is only 4.9% abv, on par with a Munich Dunkel, making this beer stylistically, a dunkle. In fact in Germany, this beer is only called Dunkle, not schwarzbier, so schwarzbier is more marketing for the US market than anything else. Einbecker Dunkle is a very good dark lager. It is a very clean, very malty, nutty, dark lager, with tremendous flavor and character. Einbecker Dunkel pours to a very deep/dark brown color, with a slight tan head that fades, and a soft carbonation. When held to the light this beer has very bright deep brown hues. The nose on this beer is just bursting with malt character. Aromas of sweet, toasty, nutty, malt aromas flood the nose. The palate is soft but firm, with big malt flavors. Like the nose this beer is just loaded with sweet, toasty, and nutty malt flavors. The body is clean and round, making this beer very smooth and drinkable. This beer finishes with more big sweet and toasty malt flavors up front, then ends with enough hop bitterness to balance. This was an extremely impressive beer. A fantastic version of dunkel. I really enjoyed the wonderful showcase of malt flavors, the toasty and nutty flavors, and hop balance added to this beer’s class. I would match this beer with classic German fare. This beer would be the perfect match for a dinner of sauerbraten, red cabbage, and spatzel. It would also work very well with a spankenfel pork or chicken dinner, and even as a desert beer with a big, thick slice of Black Forrest cake. Seek this beer out if it is in your market. It is a bit pricey at $9 a six pack, but well worth it in my opinion.