DAB Original

Brewed by Dortmunder Actien Brauerei (Oetker Group)
Style: Dortmunder/Helles
Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Pours a bright golden color with a half-way decent white pilsner head. Grainy sweet pale malt nose. Smooth sweet malt taste along with mild pleasant hop bitterness. Not as hoppy as your average northern Germany pils. A pretty good beer, but rather pedestrian for the country of origin.

Boy, this label thing on these imports drives me crazy. First I thought this was the 3.5, then I looked at the label fine print to see no alky rating what so ever. Then I cruised the website to find a dortmunder actien-brauerei label that matched up to my bottle. Sometimes there is no picture and then it is really a guessing game! In the fine print it says it is original dortmunder premium lager, the beer of world fame. So I check to see which of these beers is the most popular, that is how I located it. Oh, now I see where the DAB comes from! I just finished a bitberger, so this is a good time to compare. Anyway, this is a lager that falls under the style of classic german pilsner because I can see the label is the correct one in the avatar. Does anybody remember the Dab girls of 2 decades ago? She was the one that made me take my first taste of dab. She kind of reminds me of the Norton girl of the 70s. This is a 12 oz green bottle. Pop the lid for an aroma of slight skunk cabbage with a strong background of yeast. Pours light brown yellow with a whitish head that hangs for a few minutes. Again, these german classics have a bitterness to them that may attract pale ale fans. Similar to bitburger and stout pils. All three of these beers in this style taste the same to me, and I guess they should. This would make them a credit to the style. Who says lagers are not as creative as the ales? I am surprised to see this beer does not rate as high as bitburger, because it has about the same amount of mischievousness. The color of this lager hides the ungentle manlike behavior of the beer. Finish does have a slight bitter linger that hangs loose for a few minutes.

This had a very weak average smell aroma.Small,short-lived head.Color a nice golden color.For a light beer it had good taste.A good summer beer,or for those who want to dine with the "unwashed" this would be good,if you can find it.I got it in a "beers of the world set" from World Market.

Bottle. Pours a sparkling clear pale gold with a large white head that disappeared after a few sips. Lots of carbonation. Light aroma of malt and hops. Flavor is malt and hops as well leaning a bit to the sweet side as opposed to bitter. Light bodied.

Bottle: Lots of off-white head, but doesn’t last long. Clear, good looking straw body. The aroma was strong, metallic, water, bread (usual suspects). Very sweet notes (pastry) mixed in with a hoppy dryness. Good balance, but seemed to be due to little flavor present in general. Weak finish, but I found this lager to be surprisingly full bodied. Not a bad example of the style...

Rich caramel coffee aroma. Light golden colour. Dry crisp aftertaste, not bitter though sweetness prevails.

Pours a pale and clear yellow with a bright white foamy head. Smells mostly of grain, celery, and citrus (or, if you prefer, a cross between entering a bakery and a produce section). The mouthfeel is crisp and well carbonated. Actually, the mouthfeel is the one thing that really stands out in this pils, which is unusual because I normally don’t pay much attention to it. The taste? Well, it’s starring some clover honey, with a guest appearance by hops, and a brief cameo by bitterness. Supremely unoffensive. And thankfully, due to the can it came in, not skunked. DAB Original is about what I expected from Dortmund. After all, they still can’t touch Schalke. A beer for your friends visiting from Germany. As long as they’re not from Gelsenkirchen.

Light golden color, but still darker than I remember for a Dortmunder. Very bubbly on pour. Nose of honey & sweet malts. Inital taste of slightly stale biscuit. Flavor is balanced but seems a bit watery. Slightly sweet aftertaste. Overall, not bad.