The goal of all life is good lager: Vienna-Style Lager by Dovetail Brewery

Let me begin by dropping some factoids that I just know will blow your mind:

1) I love Vienna lagers.

2) It is highly likely that I've never had a Vienna lager from Vienna or any other part of Austria.

Should I pause here so you can gather yourselves together?

I suppose that when I write "I love Vienna lagers" what I really mean is that I enjoy American-brewed amber colored lagers that sources such as the BJCP say is permissible to label "Vienna lagers". Whether the definitions of Vienna lager promulgated by the craft beer clerisy have any resemblance to the historical Austrian style of beer is questionable in my mind. I think the rise of craft beer here in the United States has propagated countless tall tales and outright falsehoods about beer and brewing history. See pretty much everything about the IPA. Due to my laziness and blogging deadlines** I've done precious little research and so the following nano-history of the Vienna lager may be completely bogus. Caveat lector.

The invention of the Vienna lager is a story worthy of an episode of James Burke's Connections as its genesis drew upon a myriad of technologies and techniques from outside of Vienna and invented in the past. Burke would, no doubt, start several thousand years in the past somewhere in deepest Mesopotamia. I am not.

Instead let's go back to the first time a Vienna lager made its way into the Kuchen hole of a paying member of the public: c. 1840. This was made possible by one Anton Dreher, proprietor of Brauhaus zu Klein-Schwechat which I think translates into English as the Klein Schwechat Brewery. (Klein Schwechat is a town near Vienna.) But before taking over the brewery from his father, Anton had a few adventures with his Freund Gabriel Sedlmayr, Jr. (Sedlmayr the Senior was the Braumeister at a little brewery in Munich called Spaten.)

Trekking through Germany and eventually Britain, Anton learned about bottom fermentation, speedy wort cooling, and kilning with indirect heat which yielded pale, non-smoky malt. He even used the humble thermometer which was, I have read, eschewed by early 19^th century Viennese brewers because apparently they were a bunch of zymurgological Neanderthals.

The merger of new-fangled technology and new(er) methods in Dreher's brewery yielded the Vienna lager.

If we jump ahead to 2016 in Chicago's Ravenswood area, Dovetail Brewery is opened by two Chicagoans who met in Munich while studying the art of brewing. Together they brew continental European style beers with the occasional American technique or ingredient thrown in for good measure. This is not my first encounter with Dovetail's beer as I enjoyed their Rauchbier at their taproom a few years back and, more recently, their Helles. However, this is my initial taste of their Vienna-style lager and I didn't have to go to Chicago to get it as Dovetail started appearing on select Madison store shelves late last year or earlier this year, I cannot recall.

The beer is amber in color whereas the stuff Dreher was making was likely paler, more of a golden hue. It had a touch of haze and a lovely white head that went away rather quickly.

Its delightfully biscuity malt scent caressed my nosehairs and stimulated my olfactory bulb. Ooh la la! I also caught a little toffee and some grass from the hops.

The liquid was medium-bodied and featured a little toffee flavor. But the pièce de resistance was the rich biscuit taste that melded with melanoidins giving that lightly toasted flavor that my tongue covets so. My understanding is that Dovetail decocts, hence the melanoidins. When I finally stopped gushing over the grainy goodness, I noticed there was also a moderate fizziness and a tad of grassy-floral hoppiness.

At the finish there was a touch of lingering sweetness but mainly it was a bit dry with that fizz and some bitterness from grassy-spicy tasting hops.

As with the other beers I've had from Dovetail, their Vienna-style lager is superlative. I don't know exactly how close it is to the ur-Vienna lager from back in 1840 but it's at least on the right track with having the malt up front. Indeed, it's masterful in its melanoidin, terrific in its toastiness, and scarce in sweetness. This, along with the subdued hop presence, jibes with what I've read about Dreher's brew.

In the end, though, Dovetail isn't obligated to brew a beer that tastes like one from 180 years ago. It is however, obligated to brew tasty beer and they've certainly done that here. The sweetness is toned down and the bready/toasty malt flavors shine through, as is my preference in such matters, with some Noble tasting hops lending a little balance and dryness.

Junk food pairing: This beer is up for pairing with what is one of the best potato chips out there – Jay's Hot Stuff with its prominent paprika flavor and its heat.

**Hahahahahahahahaha