Choosing a beer is a lot like renting a movie, there are so damn many and I would like to experience every one, but all I have is ten bucks and one night. So I shop and I shop until I find a new beer that looks worthy with the right price and finally I decided on this friendly looking chap. At home I crack it open and think and taste and enjoy.
This week it is Great Lakes Brewing Company's Dortmunder Gold Lager. I don't know what it was, but from first foamy taste I was in love.
I thought it was like an Oktoberfest with a little more bite. So in my ramblings I think of other ways to describe this beer. Somehow my first thoughts are of sauerkraut and bratwurst, then to the incredible, spicy Dortmunder mustard to put on them, then back to the beer. Then it struck me that the three work perfectly together, like a real working man's beer should.
Anyway, it's damn near October and you Wisconsin girls and boys all know what time of year it is: Oktoberfest! Time to dust off your bundhosen and dirndls, time to celebrate the great glory of your Bavarian heritage, time to drink!
Wait a second, I'm not from Wisconsin, nor am I Bavarian (though my grandma claims she has an uncle or something from Baden-Baden which is in the state right next to it), nor do I own a pair of bundhosen—or even lederhosen, (though my brother-in-law does). The best part is it doesn't matter. It's the time of year some of us pretend to be German, dance to polka and drink German-style beer. So we choose Oktoberfest beers seen on the shelves. Exactly why I had one last night—and it was delicious.
All I know is that Oktoberfest beers are orange and taste like creamy malty, slightly spicy, copper-colored heaven; I thought Dortmunder Gold was one of these. Welp, come to find out Dortmund is nowhere near Bavaria, but they still make damn good beer. Dortmund is in the northwest and Bavaria is the southeast, me calling Dortmunder a Bavarian could be like calling aged California dairy products cheese.
Anyway, onto the beer analysis. Great Lakes Brewing Company describes the Dortmunder style as less dry than a pilsner (Becks, Pilsner Urquell) and less malty than a Munich style lager (think Spaten's Optimator toned down a few notches)—pretty much an Oktoberfest with a little more bite.
The beer geeks call GLBC's Dortmunder Gold things like bready, biscuity, with flavors like damp orange peels, wet grains, dry hops, with a solid blah blah blah. I'm no beer nerd because I would rather just enjoy the damn beer instead of over analyzing it—it's akin to how we're all so keen to graphics and stuff when we watch movies that we forget the plot and the suspense, instead worrying about the stupid CGI—this isn't ""King Kong,"" this is beer. Drink it, enjoy it, don't worry about it, unless you're brewing it—then go for it. All I can advise is to drink this beer, drink it in a glass or a stein near 48° F and enjoy the hell out of it.
