At the time I wrote this there were four Dortmunder-style craft lagers on our local market. Four!!! Counting: Manor Hill (1), Denizens (2), Oxbow (3), and Great Lakes (4). I also evaluated Dortmunder Actien-Brauerei (DAB) Export Lager.
I reached out to Manor Hill Brewing brewer Brandon “Millhouse” Miller, as his was the most recent of the four Dortmunders released. He wrote, “I love the history behind these beers. I feel now that lagers are getting a grasp back on the market we need all lesser known styles to have a place at the table.”
Maine’s Oxbow has their OXB – Export Lager, a Dortmunder-style pale lager, which is contract brewed at Zero Gravity in Vermont. While I bought the Brew Shop out of the OXB in March, they have Great Lakes Dortmunder in cans, which is a wonderful stand in. Oxbow’s OXB Dortmunder export lager is 5.5% ABV and Great Lakes’ is 5.8%, OXB uses “noble hops” whereas Great Lakes’ Dortmunder Gold Lager features American hop varieties.
Manor Hill’s Dortmunder Export German-Style Lager is a one-off, only available on the farm, and utilizes farm-grown corn. Out of all the Dortmunder pale lagers I sampled, it is the strongest at 6% ABV. it does taste German. Between the Augustiner yeast and the German Hallertau Mittelfruh and Tettnanger hops it smacks of a Bavarian beer. Farm corn separates Manor Hill’s makeup from its Dortmunder counterpart, as Great Lakes’ beer is brewed with 2 row base and caramel 60 malts. Manor Hill’s Dortmunder is brewed with Canada Malting Co.’s Euro-Pils malt, Weyermann Munich 2, acidulated, carafoam and melanoidin malts, and farm corn.
I have yet to sample Denizens’ Good Neighbors (due out soon!) Dortmunder-style Export Lager, but head brewer and co-owner Jeff Ramirez told DC Beer that the style exemplifies how water chemistry is a key component in beer production. Similarly, Millhouse, at Manor Hill, wrote “I feel the heavy bicarbonate water and minerals worked with the Augustiner yeast to make a great finish to the beer.”
He continued, “I researched the original recipes as the people in Dortmund wanted a beer like a Helles. We went at [it] as a Helles base with just a touch higher gravity and hopped it like a German Pilsner.” There is a beautiful balance between malt, hop, yeast, and water chemistry in the Manor Hill beer. “Our well on the farm worked great with the water profile and an addition of Magnesium and NaCl… Salt was the key,” Millhouse writes.
For research purposes I bought a 4 pack of DAB (5% ABV) cans only to confirm what I’d known before tasting: Manor Hill tastes fresher and more refreshing than the German import. However, DAB ran me $6.99 before tax, whereas an American pale lager of the same quality at the same price is hard to find. And while the Manor Hill sixer was a gift from the brewer, I would’ve gladly paid the cost of an Augustiner Brau Edelstoff or Rothaus Pils Tannenzapfle six pack ($17.99 or $18.99) for this pale lager from Maryland. At the source, Manor Hill’s Dortmunder will run you $12.99 a sixer.
All of the American examples I tried–Manor Hill, Great Lakes, and Oxbow– tasted fresher than the German cans, but we’ll chalk it up to DAB Export likely coming stateside in a shipping container. Poured side by side by side, the DAB is the palest of the three. Great Lakes’ Dortmunder Gold Lager is a touch deeper in color than Manor Hill, making it the darkest of the three lagers.
All three have a subtle aroma, but I’d argue the Manor Hill smells the best upon first sniff. Hopped with Liberty and German Herkules for bittering, and then having German Tettnang and Hallertau Mittelfruh as aroma additions definitely lend a German Pils or Helles hop character to the beer. Great Lakes’ Dortmunder is brewed using Cascade and Mt. Hood hops, the “American” aroma asserts itself.
Manor Hill’s Dortmunder is a touch grape-y with a vinous nose, on the sweeter side of the sulfur spectrum detected in my olfactory. The DAB is more sulfur oriented with an aroma of a biodegradable seedling paper container, but still more cooked carrots and sweetness than the smell of eggs. Great Lakes has a touch of earthy acidity and sharpness accompanying the sweet sulfur smell; think San Marzano tomatoes before they’re fully ripened. There’s also a touch of citrus that is likely coming from hops in the Great Lakes Dortmunder that is a bit different from the DAB and Manor Hill.
Overall, I’d strongly encourage you to check out your local Dortmunder. I won’t bet that the next beer released from a DC brewery will be a Dortmunder lager, but if it was I’d invest heavily.
Millhouse plans to bring Dortmunder back on the 2025 brewing schedule. He writes, “I hope more people take a crack at this style” and I couldn’t agree more. Will we see an Atlas, City-State, DC Brau, Hellbender, Other Half, or Red Bear Dortmunder? My guess is no but I’d love to be proven wrong!
