Dammerung Dunkel
Mill Street Brew Pub

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

355 ml bottle served cool into a pint glass. Purchased as part of the Mill Street tasters pack.

Appearance - dark brown in color, with mahogany hues. Nice crisp finger of so of ivory head rests on top and leaves streaky lacing. Very clear but hard to see through simply because of the dark color.

Smell - bountiful lagery, yeasty smell, plenty of grain and caramel. A bit of a fuselage alcohol,smell underneath detracts just a bit. Still a very aromatic lager.

Taste - starts bitter, then turns sweet with caramel before returning bitter with the not insignificant hop presence coming through. Just a hint of roasty coffee too.

Mouthfeel - smooth, rather carbonated with a moderate finish.

Overall - a nice foray into a style I have very little experience. Well crafted flavorful and a big nose. Worth a try and certainly holds it's own in the tasters pack.

355 mL bottle picked up at the LCBO, included in their 2014 winter mixed pack. bottled Sept 12 2014, and served slightly chilled.

Pours a deep mahogany-copper colour; dark in hue but still clear in complexion, topped with one finger of creamy, light tan-coloured head that steadily vanishes over the next few minutes. A foamy cap and collar survive, with little in the way of lace. The aroma is clean and simple - some nice caramel sweetness, bready malts, brown sugar and toasted nuts, with accompanying notes of milk chocolate and grassy hops. Thumbs up so far.

This is a decent, malt-forward little dark lager. The backbone of bready malts, caramel and toffee holds strong throughout, with hints of toasted nuts and cocoa. The tail end of the flavour profile provides a nice, restrained bitterness that beautifully counters the malty sweetness - a little earthy, with some grassy bitterness and dark chocolate that doesn't fade immediately from the palate. Medium-light in body, with relatively low carbonation levels that provide this dark lager with a very smooth feel in the mouth. I can't see this one raising too many eyebrows, but it's certainly pretty good for what it is.

Final Grade: 3.67, a worthy B grade. I have not reviewed very many dunkel lagers, but I can at least say that Mill Street's Dammerung Dunkel is one of the better ones that I've tried. This is not an attention-grabbing beer by any means - but it's still a well-made German-style session lager, with a nice mixture of rich, malty sweetness and tempering noble hop bitterness. Good stuff, if a little forgettable; I'd consider getting this again, but probably not in sampler pack format.