Warsteiner Dunkel

Average                                        My Review                                   Guest Review                             

Aroma – 9.5/12                          Aroma – 10/12                             Aroma – 9/12

Appearance – 2.5/3                  Appearance – 3/3                     Appearance – 2/3

Flavor – 16/20                            Flavor – 17/20                              Flavor – 15/20

Mouthfeel – 3.5/5                      Mouthfeel – 4/5                         Mouthfeel – 3/5

Overall – 8.5/10                          Overall – 8/10                            Overall – 9/10

Total – 40/50                             Total – 42/50                              Total – 38/50

Welcome to the Brew’n Guy’s Beer Review

Our intention of this review is for those tailgating fans with a higher appreciation of beer to find a great beverage to enjoy and share at their next pre-game tailgate party.

To start things off, I don’t claim to be a certified beer judge as recognized by the widely accepted Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP, http://www.bjcp.org). Though I do love all things beer and brewing related. Since beginning homebrewing I’ve found a heightened appreciation for all styles of beer. Now that I’ve said that, I do think the BJCP beer rating system makes a whole lot of sense. So that is the format these reviews will follow for rating purposes.

Occasionally I will do these reviews with guest reviewers. The purpose of this is so the ratings are not just my personal opinion, but an aggregate score for the beer. I figure the more viewpoints the better.   Now, onto the beer!

Vital Stats

Category – Munich Dunkel (BJCP Category 8A)

Origin – Warsteiner Brewery (Germany)

ABV – 4.8%

IBU – unknown (~10-20)

Aroma – The first thing you smell after pouring this beer is a caramel sweetness.  There is essentially no hop presence in the aroma of this beer.  Once the head begins to fade the caramel gives way to a bready character with a slightly toasty character that is very subtle.  All in all it meets the style description to the letter.

Appearance – Though this beer pours a dark amber color it is incredibly clear.  There are slight reddish hues as well.  The head poured as a fine pale foam and faded quickly to a ring around the glass that persisted fairly well.  The carbonation appears low as very little bubbling continued after the initial pour.

Flavor – Tasting this beer confirmed that the carbonation is on the low to moderate side.  Similar to the aroma, the flavor was very malt forward with little to no hop presence.  The malt focus gave this beer a primarily bready and toasty profile.  There were hints from both myself and my guest reviewer of chocolate, caramel, and nutty flavors coming through from the malts as well.  With this very malt forward beer, it was apparent that there was a very thorough and clean ferment.  There were no off flavors to speak of, and even with minimal hopping (likely only enough for balancing the malt sweetness) it was a properly dry beer.

Mouthfeel – The body of this Dunkel is very light for a beer appearing so dark.  The carbonation being ever so slightly higher might even benefit this beer.  This style shouldn’t be fizzy by any means, but personally the beer lacked a little bit of something that the carbonic bite that a little more CO2 would bring could add a bit more life to this beer.

Overall – This is a very drinkable beer that would be great for a tailgate, a cool fall day, or anyone that is not a fan of strong hop flavor in their beer, or is just looking for an easy drinking fall brew that isn’t filled with pumpkin or spices.  It has everything that this style of beer should have.

I’m be open to suggestions on future beers to review, and general comments and feedback are always appreciated.

Drink on!