All About Beer Magazine

Beer Talk

Warsteiner Dunkel

Published September 2005, Volume 26, Number 4

• Stephen Beaumont

  On draught, as I have had it in the past, I’ve found this dark lager to be a bit too much on the light side, without quite enough malty roastiness to truly satisfy. The bottled version improves upon this, but still leaves me wanting more body. That said, the softly roasty, cocoa-ish aroma and off-dry, toasty body with its soft licorice notes will appeal to newcomers to the style, and those fearful of the oft-dreaded brewing bogeyman known as “Dark Beer.”

• Charlie Papazian

  Beautiful, deep copper-brown lager. Head does not last, but light beery aroma is inviting. Subtle cocoa-roast malt aroma and flavor. Lively carbonation lends a perception of a lighter taste, yet the roasted malt characters succeed in persisting. Very nice German-brewed dunkel lager and equal in character to some of the best American craftbrewed beers of this type.

• Garrett Oliver

  This beer has an admirably deep garnet color and raises a fine tan head. The aroma is suitably malty and sweet with notes of bread and toffee. On the palate, though, the beer is medium-bodied and rather dry, with moderate bitterness and a somewhat thin malt character. A very clean version, and though it lacks the malt depth of the more classic renditions, it is sharp and well-brewed. Perfectly suitable for those summer burgers.