Penn Dark Lager Beer

Brewed by Pennsylvania Brewing Company
Style: Dunkel
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA

Best local beer to Pittsburgh.

The best Pittsburgh beer, and better than most I’ve had elsewhere. Plenty of subtlety; not too bitter or too sweet.

one of the best darks i’ve had

An excellent beer. It’s very smooth and has a wonderful malt taste.

An awesome dark lager. Roasted malt taste is excellent.

AN Excellent example of Municher Dark Lager. Nice roasted, aftertaste. Great Session Beer!

One thing I really love about living in the Mid-Atlantic is the German influence in the area. States like Maryland, and Pennsylvania really have a German influence that can be see in many local specialities, and that includes the beer. Pennsylvania really is a fantastic place for a beer lover. Cities such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are just brimming with great beer. What really makes it great for me, is the variety of beer styles that are available. I use to live in New England, and that six state area with the exception of maybe, Rhode Island, is another fantastic place to find great beer. Good luck trying to find a lager though. New England is mostly all ales, which is great, but when my German beer loving palate craves a good lager, I’m glad I’m in an area that can brew some of the tastiest, and most authentic lagers in America. Lagers are much harder to brew than ales. They are cleaner, and rounder, and can’t hide any flaws that could be hidden with a big dose of hops or a funky ale yeast. You can tell a poorly made lager because "there is no place to hide" so to speak. When a brewery cheapens a lager with adjunct such as corn and rice, you can taste it. I find those types of "light" lagers to be poor examples. You should be able to taste malt in every glass of a good lager. Lagers are about balance, a harmony of water, malt, and hops. So simple, yet so sublime. Lagers are more expensive to brew, they must be cold conditioned, and usually for a one to three month period. Lager is after all the German word for "store". A true test of a great brewery is; can they brew a great lager. The Pennsylvania Brewing Company, of Pittsburgh, PA passes that test with flying colors. This brewery does exceptional German beer styles, some of the best I have ever tasted. I have been fortunate enough to have visited the brewery in Pittsburgh, and I can tell you from first hand experience, this place for a beer lover is a "must visit". Penn Dark is a Munich Dunkels by style, and it is an outstanding example of this malty, slight roasty, dark lager. Penn Dark pours to a bright, deep brown color, with a nice white head, and a good bit of carbonation. The nose on this beer is sublime. Nice sweet, slightly chocolatey and slightly roasty malt aromas are balanced with some nice hop aromatics. The palate is a lean malt backbone of Munich malts, a touch of sweet malt, a touch of roast, a touch of chocolate. This is a very gentle beer, with a very soft and smooth body, round and clean. This beer finishes with more good malt character up front, then is balanced out again with a mild hop bitterness. Whole flower Hallertau hops imported from Germany are used in this beer. Really a wonderful Munich Dunkels, very well balanced, and stylistically accurate. This beer is flawless. I would match this beer with classic German fare such as saurbraten, spatzel, and red cabbage, or perhaps some Pennsylvania Dutch fare such as ham, potatoes, apples, and dumplings.

A very easy drinking beer with a terribly appealing balance and an elusive, distant sweet dark note (blackberry?) that drives me wild. I think this beer appeals to certain of my idiosyncrasies and I cannot therefore recommend it to all, but I for one could drink gallons of this stuff.