Bayernbiere Bought and Drunk

Dunkel-wise, I think that many of the ones brewed outside of Bavaria aren't necessarily a beer in the "Munich Dunkel" lineage, but are simply just a dark lager of some sort.
Some of them ARE pretty close to a dark pils, while a few (Pinkus) are definitely following the Bavarian model.

 

While I know beer folks love to classify things by style, I don’t necessarily get the same vibe from the Germans…at least in everyday context.
Because I’m not a German speaker, I try to pay attention to what people are saying/ordering so I don’t look like an idiot when ordering. Plus, it's just interesting to see how beer cultures can differ.
In Munich, when you order a “helles” – you’re getting a beer from that style. Ditto with dunkel. Those are pretty much just assumed. Even at Augustiner, which produces 3 different pale colored lagers.
However when I was in Bamberg, “helles” only seemed to really imply that I wanted something light in color. At Mahr’s and Faessla they both asked me if I meant a pils or a “lagerbier” which seemed to be their own name for the malty version of a pale lager. I’m sure an export would further complicate that order, but luckily most places only have 2 pale beers.
With dunkels in Bamberg, I didn’t necessarily get additional questions, but their dunkel beers ranged from being nearly a schwarzbier to a light amber and closer to the export version of Paulaner Oktoberfest. While certainly of the same quality, those weren’t the same dunkels from Munich any more than Beck’s Dark is.

Then there’s always just calling something “starkbier.” At places that only had one, I noticed people tended to simply order by that classification, while if they had several strong beers, then people would order by the name of the beer. I can't recall anyone ordering stronger beers by the name of the style, like doppelbock or weizenbock.

 

If this is really true (though there are Schwarzbiers outside Bavaria that have far more body than Pils), it sounds like laziness. It also means I'll stick to Bavaria for the beers I like.

 

When I visited the Augustiner Keller on the eve of Frühlingsfest (some years ago) I asked if they had Maibock. The Ober told me, "No, but we have Starkbier." And I was served a Krug of Doppelbock.

At Schneider you just ordered Aventinus and had no problem getting what you wanted!

 

Tony, thank you for that education. I now know that "Dunkel" has varying meanings based upon where you are in Germany.

Cheers!

Jack

 

And the Berliners used to say that the only good thing about Bavaria is that it keeps them separate from Austria -- but old stereotypes are always such BS and ought to be quashed readily and without (pun?) prejudice.

I've been to Bavaria, Berlin, Swabia, Baden-Württemburg, the Rhineland and many places in-between and enjoyed all the cultures and all the people I met. Life's too short to start singling people out because they're different from your expectations.

 

Too many better beers to be dwelling on the bad ones. Beck's originated in the North, but I won't hold that against them!

 

Sorry, late to the conversation here but I wanted to relay this story. I was staying in a hotel in Bamberg, and the attached restaurant, though closed (the dreaded German Ruhetag!), advertised Spezial's Dunkel in their window. So I went over to Spezial's takeaway window and asked for a Dunkel, which I hadn't had before. The woman there gave me a funny look, and the following conversation took place (in German):

Her: You mean our Rauchbier?
Me: No, the Dunkel.
Her: Our Rauchbier is a Dunkel.
Me: OK, then I'll have that.

I cursed the hotel restaurant all the way home.

 

No worse than the restaurant in Munich that had a table tent advertising "Hacker-Pschorr's Special Oktoberfest Bier." My friend and I said -- "Great! Maybe it'll be the Amber Märzen* too?!"

Turned out to be the H-P Weizen at Oktoberfest special prices. Oh well, we like that too!


*This was at the beginning of the Wiesn Märzen days and we were hunting for Amber.

 

Somewhat related - I ran into the Paulaner amber Märzen in Munich in 2 different places. They randomly had bottles of it in the Deutsches Museum cafe, and Paulaner Im Tal (across the street from the Weissesbrauhaus) had it on tap.

 

We found it at the Seehaus in the Englischer Garten on our last trip over -- vom Faß too.

Oh, and that same place with the H-P special had Spaten Amber Märzen on tap too -- our last night in Munich and we finally found it around the corner from our hotel!

 

I can't remember which label, H-P Oktoberfest I think, over here has a little tagline that reads Amber Märzen. Read it and weep!

And actually, the Regensburg Märzens I get are Amber -- more positive feedback for Bayern!

 

After a couple of miscues, my 2nd box finally arrived. I'll be drinking well this week! More later...

 

Are you certain about that ? I don't taste much Pils in most of the Dunkel I drink.

 

Sounds great! Actually I'm not sure what I think of pepper in my beer but I bet my wife would love it. I saw his FB page a while back and he advertised a small town's Summer Fest (or some such) where he was going to be selling his Biere Blanche. He had some comment along the lines of"Es ist der Hammer!" Glad we could get some independent verification! I thought about going, actually, but the town was a little too far away by train for me to consider seriously.

Good news - I just did a Maruhn's beer run as a Father's Day gift, so I'll be putting some up here over the next week or so. Highlights include a Franconian Rauchbier that I have never had before, a few Faust beers that may have been given a high review in this forum, and some old classics. No Orval, sadly, they had sold out.

My old stomping grounds. Run up the Art Museum steps for me!