Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh’s Dunkel Is Sweet and Authentic

Hofbrauhaus Munich Dunkel, Pittsburgh, Pa. Abv 5.5% IBUs: Bring a magnifier to find ’em.

Dark beers have been associated with Munich throughout the modern brewing era. Unlike major brewing cities such as Burton On Trent or Plzen, Munich’s water is soft and not well suited to pale ales and light crisp lagers. In the 19^th century as brewers improved their ability to adjust mineral content of their brewing water, pilsner and helles shoved the traditional dark styles to the back of the shelf. Still, a “Munich Malt” is a dark malt and a “Munich style beer” is a brown lager.

hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh logo sign

Hofbrauhaus pittsburgh tasting fllight with menu IMG_9924 tasting flight

Good sized samplers allow a reasonable taste of all five Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh beers.

Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh brews a good typical Dunkel or dark lager on site. If you’ve been overhopped in the craft revolution or just always preferred the sweetness of malt over the crispness of hops, this is your beer. From the aroma to the aftertaste clean toasted and caramel malts (including some Munich, no doubt) provide plenty of sweetness, but mostly avoid the cloying gumminess of a number of similarly sweet beers. A whisper of ending hops helps to keep it clean on the return. To be honest, HopHead Bob would rather spend the evening with the clean and balanced Original, but it’s hard not to respect the skill that goes into the Dunkel.

This month Hofbrauhaus Pittsburgh is also brewing an even darker Schwarzbier. We’ll talk about that tomorrow.