Barrel House Duveneck Dortmunder

Brewed by Barrel House Brewing Company
Style: Dortmunder/Helles
Cincinnati, Ohio USA

22oz bomber from west lakeview in Chicago. I didn’t really know the style all that well before and I had duveneck and dog days in the fridge, so this is my impromptu "Better know what Dortmunder is as a style" side by side. Hazy orange with a huge white head. Slight fruit aroma with some malt aroma as well, but all in all it is pretty faint. Light earthy orange flavor that is different than the lively fresh taste of the dog days, green apple as well, pretty sweet, slight spicy hops, some vanilla. Thickness of the body is hard to tell because all I get is a lot carb, almost foamy when I swish it around my mouth. Not bad, weird palate though.

Bottle (22 fl oz). Most enjoyable. For all intents and purposes, Dortmunder often means "malty and almost boring pale lager" when done by local brewpubs. This is much better crafted: the spicy and hoppy notes are present in the mouth but dissipate strongly on the finish. So while the hops "say hello," this is not a bitter beer. Lovely dark golden color and creamy, frothy head. Well done Barrel House!

Name: Dubeneck’s Dortmunder
Date: 02/26/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

clear fold, wispy white head, light lace, sweet malt and floral hop aroma with a bit of a nice yeasty character, great malt flavor, light balancing hops, touch of corn sweetness,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 3.1/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

<<UPDATED RATING 10/12/07>> I was able to try another bottle of this, and the sourness of the beer did settle down quite a bit. However, what is left over is a pretty dull tasting beer, with some tartness. No change to rating.

<<ORIGINAL RATING 8/29/07>>
22 oz. bottle from Dansting. Pour is a slightly hazy orange yellow with a decent white head. Aroma is a touch of sourness and sweet. The taste is mostly the funky, bitter sourness, which overpowers all the way through for me. The finish is sour lemon. Since this flavor trait appears to show up in no one else’s review, I will chalk this up to potentially a bad bottle.

A clear amber color with white head. Aroma gives off a root-beer flavor. Taste matches the aroma....man this tastes like root beer, but maybe just a bit watery. The malts shade the strong hops. Overall, a very even and flavorful beer with some interesting subtle features.

Bottle. Deep malty aroma, not really sweet, as expected, but rich in yeast and laced with Hallertau. Clear orange-golden pour with slow-rising medium carbonation and a soapy, clinging rocky eggshell head. Malty taste is lightly sweet (honeyish) with an additional faint sour overtone, resolves into a dry, lovely biscuity aftertaste. Citric hops (closer to lemon this time) begin in the middle and strengthen significantly before joining up with a touch of grass on exit. Lightly crisp medium body. Smooth with interesting late spiciness. A nice blend, clean and drinkable in large quantities with a high degree of subtlety.

Bottle from Andrew. Thanks. Deep golden pour with simple and effective white head. Sweet malt and light hops. This beer is very well balanced and the flavor works really well. Honey, apples, pear, wheat. Works very well. Popped this beer thinking, "i just need to drink this" and now I am very glad I did. This is quite quaffable for its 4.5abv. Very impressed with this beer.

nice deep golden color, head is lacy and white. somewhat floral and mineral qualities...little bit of wet paper and some metallic notes in the finish. interesting.