Dunkel Kase?!

How come no one told me there was such a thing as a dunkel cheese?! I still have a little smoked cheddar to eat before I dig into this stuff but I am looking forward to it. I wonder what kind of brew they use.

I may not be able to brew dunkels myself, but I have always gone after dark beers: Dunkel by Dovetail Brewery

In preparing for this post, I looked at my notes and saw that the date on my can was 3/1/24. Not sure if this was the canning or best consumed by date. Luckily for my tongue I did my tasting back in the spring. But this also means my review is around six months late and counting. Uff da!

Although it appears that Dovetail has been brewing their Dunkel for several years now, it's not apparent when they do so. Is it a fall release? An easy-drinking winter surprise for those times when you need a break from the slew of Weihnachtsbocks you've been consuming to stay warm? Hell, it could be a spring treat for all I know. All mention of the bier seems to have been expunged from the Dovetail website so I guess I'll just have to wait until it's brewed again. Well, either that or I could write the brewery.

While I have not had anywhere near even half of the brews Dovetail have concocted, I have tasted several and found that they range from very good to superlative. How would their take on the Munich classic (was it even a Munich dunkel?) fare?

The head on this beer was just wonderful. Loose and light tan, it came in large quantities and had staying power. This is a good thing for those of us that lack dexterity when it comes to camera phones and/or have very cheap phones with camera apps that are less than fully functional. Someday I will master autofocus. The liquid was dark amber and clear. A sight to behold! As for the aroma, I'd say it was what I'd hope for/expect in a dunkel, namely, bready with coffee and toasty notes as well as some nice grassy hops.

A mild fizz greeted my tongue on the first sip and it noted a medium-light body. There was the expected bread from the aroma while the grassy hops also had a spicy alter ego. Malty sweetness was rather minimal while coffee and dark chocolate were more prominent. I also tasted a hint of vanilla in there. Likely because of the restrained fizziness, Dunkel was fairly smooth overall.

On the swallow, the roasty malt flavors lingered before a good dose of herbal hoppiness swooped in and made the finish a rather dry and bitter affair.

Dunkel comes in at a very good plus plus. I adored the roasty malt flavors and the overall dry profile. But I kept wishing for more bready taste. The hops were perfectly portioned to offer a brisk counterpoint to the malt. But I kept wishing for more bready taste.

Despite desiring more Maillard madness, this was a great beer. I would definitely drink it again as it hit the spot this past spring. The lighter body pointed towards spring while the roasty flavors kept the lingering chill at bay.

Junk food pairing: When Dunkel is next available, be sure to have a bag of Zapp's Voodoo Pretzel Stix on hand. They're ever so slightly sweet with an addictive tanginess that Dunkel will wash down perfectly.

It Takes a Village: DorfBier by Urban Chestnut Brewing

Trips to liquor stores in Chicagoland involve not only investigating what the brewers of that region have been up to, but also some of those from St. Louis, namely Schlafly and Urban Chestnut. I suspect there are other breweries' beers from the Gateway to the West at Binny's but the only other brewery whose brews I'd be interested in (that I know of, anyway) come from Civil Life. Alas, they don't seem to distribute to Downers Grove. My autumnal trek to Binny's this year yielded, amongst others, DorfBier, a Bavarian-style Dunkel, from Urban Chestnut. Another member of the Axis of Darkness!

Their brewmaster, Florian Kuplent, hails from Bavaria and keeps the taps flowing with brews that would be right at home at a biergarten in his Heimat. These are in addition to various IPAs and other non-Bavarian styles that no doubt help keep the lights on.

The label for DorfBier - "village beer" - notes that it is the third entry in the brewery's Reverence series which I presume is reserved for Bavarian-style biers brewed using (more or less) Old World methods. And, to the best of my knowledge, Urban Chestnut does brew using decoction so I don't think it's a stretch to assume that this stuff saw some decoction action.

I visited their Midtown outpost several years back on a trip to St. Louis and sampled their Dunkel. It was tasty. But I don't recall having run into it since then and, as my blog entry covering my visit to the taproom says nothing beyond the Dunkel being good, I figure it's time to revisit this brew - even if I cannot revisit St. Louis.

I got a big, light tan head in my glass that lasted. Beneath it the liquid showed off its light amber hue with crystal clarity revealing a modicum of bubbles inside. A toasty-roasty smell reached my nose first and was followed by some caramel and milk chocolate. These scents were topped off with a hint of grassy hops.

A nice fizziness set the stage for a medium-light bodied beer with a lovely bread flavor along with that toasty-roasty thing, caramel, and milk chocolate. Despite using ingredients found in candy bars here, DorfBier had only a mild sweetness. The fizz wasn't Berliner Weisse strength but enough for a gentle astringency. There was a hint of peppery hops loitering in the background. A little milk chocolate sweetness lingered on the front of my tongue on the finish but was soon swept away by a combination of fizzy acidity and a moderate dose of herbal-peppery hops which took my palate down the middle path of dryness and bitterness.

Considering the brewmaster is from Bavaria and apprenticed there, I'd have been shocked if this bier was anything less than extremely reverent and tasty. And it was. It has a nice bread taste to it - decocted? - along with malty flavors from the Dark Side that I just love. Its lightish body and moderate strength - 4.8% A.B.V. - make it an everyday workhorse of a brew. Whether you're at the biergarten, eating a meal, relaxing after work, or in need of refreshment after laboring out in the back 40, DorfBier has got you covered.

Junk food pairing: DorfBier will pair well with many junk foods but I prefer Mrs. Fisher's Dark Potato Chip. Their extra Maillard reactions will complement the dark malt flavors of your DorfBier perfectly.

Therese Dreaming of Dunkel: My Turn - Chopper by Lakefront Brewery

As I type, the latest in Lakefront's My Turn series is Chopper, a Munich-style Dunkel. Chopper is the brewery's controller which, if the bottle's label is to be believed, means he sits in an office with a picture of Amatino Manucci on the wall behind him as he calculates the brewery's finances on an old Texas Instruments calculator.

The My Turn series, which allows employees to brew a beer of their choice or have a beer of their choice brewed, has had some appealing brews as of late. The kellerbier was great but I didn't taste a Vienna lager, Berliner Weisse, and Dunkelweizen which all sound tasty and are most welcome as the brewery embraces the IPA ever more strongly. It's not that non-IPAs have all gone away, but Lakefront used to brew a nice variety of beers but it's gotten kind of less so.

Bitching about the ubiquity of IPAs is like shooting fish in a barrel. I get it. But I remember when Fixed Gear was a red ale, not an IPA. (I also remember when they brewed it too.) There was a witbier, a mild, an ESB...I adored their cherry lager. These days it's largely IPA this and barrel-aged that. Oh well.

One area they seem to be a pioneer in instead of a follower is with non-alcoholic beers. Just as they were on the bleeding edge of gluten-free brews, they now seem to be the leaders of NA beer brewing. I don't drink NA beers but good for Lakefront. While I miss the non-IPAs of yesteryear, I will find solace in the wonderful variety of the My Turn series.

Chopper ran the numbers and found a Munich-style Dunkel wouldn't break the bank. It's a close cousin to their Eastside Dark, which is described as a Bavarian dark lager. They have some malts in common but different hops. I presume the same yeast is used in both. A side-by-side comparison would be neat but, since I don't get paid to do this, you're stuck with just the one beer.

Chopper is a lovely bier. Dark copper and ruby-tinged, by right, it should have had a big, light tan head atop it but my pour only produced a modicum of foam and what was there disappeared rather quickly. No doubt my poor pouring skills on display once more. As is proper with Munich-style Dunkels, it was clear. The aroma had some prominent milk chocolate along with roasted grain and stone fruit smells.

Looking at the bier, I didn't see many bubbles but my tongue was greeted with a nice, medium dose of fizziness. Roasty grain, a little milk chocolate, and bit of bread gave the bier a full flavor despite having only a medium-light body. On the swallow, those malty flavors faded allowing a moderate bit of spicy-herbal hoppiness - think black tea but "greener" - to come through and deposit some bitterness and dryness which both lasted a while on my tongue.

I brought some of this over to a friend's house for a homebrew day and he, a professional brewer type, was delighted by this bier. And so was I. While I wish it was a bit breadier tasting, I really enjoyed how the hops kept the sweeter inclinations of the malts in check. Its light body made for some easy drinking and refreshment on a chilly winter day of sparging and stirring.

It has been a while since I've had an Eastside Dark so I am going from memory here. This is very similar to Lakefront's beloved annual. I think the chocolate is more prominent in Chopper and that it's a bit breadier than Eastside. Methinks I shall have to get some Eastside Dark to refresh my memory.

Junk food pairing: Pair your Chopper with a bag of steak flavored Cheetos. The faux beef flavor goes with the roasted grain flavors in the bier and cheese just goes with everything.

A Brace of Dunkels from Milwaukee

The latest My Turn brew from Lakefront in Milwaukee is a Munich-style Dunkel from a fellow named Chopper.

And don't forget that Sprecher's Winter Lager is also a Munich-style Dunkel.

Jeepers. Sprecher's website is now almost wholly dedicated to soda with beer getting but a single page under the About menu. It's like their beers are an afterthought. Only the regular releases are listed there. The On Tap page lists a Doppelbock but they are sure in no hurry to promote it. I have to wonder if Sprecher is going to get out of the beer business altogether as they seem to have almost given up on it.

They were dancing in Strasbourg, dancing in the street: Ryed of the Valkyries by Gathering Place Brewing Company

Do you suppose Frigg got pissed off when the Aesir convened to interview prospective Valkyries only to find that Thor had yet again chosen a slate of applicants that were all slim, busty, and blonde? Weren't any Valkyries brunettes? Brunettes with some small love handles and cup sizes smaller than D? If Michael Whelan and company are to be believed, there weren't. And poor Odin. With only one eye, he must have been especially busy with a clutch of comely warrior maidens parading before him. I guess you've gotta make sacrifices when you're the chief wise guy and Allfather.

This winter was rather exiting as far as beer goes as I've been able to sup not one, not two, but three different beers that were brewed with one of my favorite ingredients: rye. There was the annual quaffing of the Roggenbier with Vintage's Tippy Toboggan but also a couple of new brews: a ryewine from Parched Eagle and a rye stout from Revolution in Chicago. In one of those posts I lamented the general paucity of rye beers and how options are even fewer for those like me who eschew IPAs. Not long afterwards I encountered two more beers prepared with the coveted grain.

I was so happy that I almost started dancing. This would have been oddly appropriate since rye is hypothesized to be the cause of the Dancing Plague of 1518 which broke out in Strasbourg, now in modern day France. Records indicate a woman suddenly began dancing in the street in July and was joined by several others, mostly young women. While no one knows exactly what caused this terpsichorean outburst, there are those who blame rye. Well, ergotism.

Ergotism or ergot poisoning happens when you eat too much of a particular fungus that likes to grow on grains, particularly rye, in cool, moist conditions. I haven't found anything that explains why rye is the grain most commonly infected. Regardless, ergotism was a persistent threat in the days of yore. Not only did it cause gangrene but also seizures and mania, hence it being blamed for the Dancing Plague. 

A little more than 100 years ago some enterprising chemists put some of the fungus in test tubes and mixed it with something else and sloshed it all around or whatever chemists do and discovered that some of the ergotine alkaloids - the compounds that did nasty things to people - utilize lysergic acid in their daily routines. This discovery led another chemist named Albert Hofman to start tinkering with derivatives of lysergic acid and he discovered another acid - LSD.

Far out, man.

This bring me quite nicely to Ryed of the Valkyries from Milwaukee's Gathering Place Brewing Company, a dunkel brewed with rye. A Roggendunkel, I suppose you could say. I've had a couple of their other brews and found them to be delectable so I was keen on trying a third.

My pour produced a modicum of loose, off-white foam. The beer was a deep amber and clear so I was able to spy a fair number of bubbles inside, including a bunch adhering to the side of my glass. My sniffs revealed mostly chocolate and honey aromas but I also found small doses of grass, plum, and citrus, which I initially read as "uterus", from my notes. Now there's a challenge for a brewer who is looking to deviate from the norm.

Through a firm fizz I tasted dark chocolate, stone fruit, roasty malt, and spicy rye on my initial sips. A bit of that citrus and a herbal hoppiness came through subsequently. After drinking a few ounces, I made the mistake of reading the label which mentioned pear. It was like being told not to think of an elephant and then getting Dumbo stuck in your mind's eye. And so I couldn't get pear out of my brain and began to taste it with every sup. Stoopid power of suggestion!

Chocolate and citrus lingered a bit on the swallow while the hoppy taste became a bit spicy. There was a moderate dryness helped out by some hoppy bitterness.

This was a fine brew. Besides name-checking a certain pomaceous fruit, the label also notes that 3 types of rye were used. No wonder I really enjoyed the rye flavor. I also found the spicy finish to be very tasty. Gathering Place describes this as a "gentle nod to the classic Bavarian Dunkel" and my only gripe would be for it to be a little less gentle and boost those roasty grain flavors that Bavarian brewers conjure so well. Less fruitiness and more bread.

Still, this was wonderful stuff. At 4.8% it isn't exactly a winter warmer and would be great in the summer, but it instead eased me into the comforting folds of hygge on a chilly evening.

Junk food pairing: I am all about the rye so get a bag of Gardetto's Deli-Style Mustard Pretzel snack mix to go with your Ryed of the Valkyries.

Fear of the Dark: Slingshot by Backpocket Brewing

Backpocket Brewing's hometown is Coralville, Iowa but it has an outpost in Dubuque, some 90 miles to the northeast. My Frau and I happened to be in Dubuque last month and we managed to hit 3 out of the 4 brewpubs in town (that I could find mention of) on a whirlwind tour. None of them distribute to Madison so it was all new to us. (Do any Iowa breweries distribute to Wisconsin other than Toppling Goliath?) Now that I think about it, it's likely that I've tried Backpocket's beer previously at the Great Taste of the Midwest but cannot say when or which beer.

Truth be told, Backpocket's Dubuque outpost is really more of a tied house as the beer is shipped in from Coralville but this is more distinction than difference. As with 7 Hills Brewing Company that we visited earlier that day, Backpocket is located in the gentrifying Millwork District and is in a building that was once home to Novelty Iron Works. And so the interior was post-industrial chic with exposed joists and other structural bits lit by those faux Edison lights or whatever you call them.

My Frau had a Belgian blonde ale which we both agreed was tasty but the highlight for me was their Crispii Pilz, a pilsner which was crisp and fizzy and really hit the spot on a blisteringly hot evening. We grabbed a six pack of their Dunkel, Slingshot, to bring home. Along with Slingshot, Backpocket offers a Helles as a year-round beer. It was nice to see not one but two German style lagers on offer all year long instead of a slate of hazy juicy IPAs.

Things started off oddly immediately after pouring the beer into my glass. There was a lovely tan head and the beer was clear with a smattering of bubbles to be seen inside. The problem was that it was a dark amber color – too light. I was able to see through it. I smelled just a smidgeon of roasty grain in addition to plum, some malt sweetness, and a nice grassy hop scent.

This theme of not being dunkely enough continued in my mouth. There was very little of that grainy roastiness, no hints of chocolate or coffee either. It was sweeter than I am used to for the style with both malty and fruity (again, think plum) kinds of sweetness. There was also an earthy-floral taste like vanilla as well. On the finish I tasted a lingering honey-like sweetness complemented by a mild spicy hop flavor.

I've encountered this before – I think it was with Bull Falls' Schwarzbier – where a dark lager wasn't dark enough and it comes across more like an Altbier. As far as any semblance to a Dunkel, Slingshot misses the mark. For starters, it's too light in color. Roastiness and some coffee and dark chocolate, qualities which are normally present in the aroma and taste and are the things I crave in the style, are basically M.I.A. here.

What redeems Slingshot is that vanilla flavor. Combined with the sweetness, it gives the beer a cream soda-like countenance. And when the beer is nice and cold, it dulls the sweetness a bit so you end up with this slightly sweet, vaguely vanilla-y drink with a nice fizz to it. Now, I'd rather have those Dunkel qualities on full display but Slingshot is a pleasant drink that is not totally unlike cream soda which is really quite tasty, especially during a heatwave. I found it to be a refreshing treat.

Junk food pairing: Slignshot will pair well with pizza flavored foods such as Pepperoni Pizza Combos.

Haze means nothing, while smoke, acquired from beechwood, means everything: Nathan by Lakefront Brewery

I have been waging a highly unsuccessful campaign on Twitter to get drinkers to make 2018 the year when smoke beers overtake New England IPAs as the trendy, hip brew. OK, by "campaign" I really mean putting "#SmokeIsTheNewHaze" in the odd tweet but I labor on nonetheless. This is an old review which I am only now finishing but it fits my tilting at windmills Twitter endeavor nicely.

It was a sad day when I noticed Schell's Chimney Sweep was no longer gracing store shelves. Being a rauch dunkel, it was one of my favorite biers combining two of the best flavors: dark and smoked malts. A quick check of Schell's website confirmed my worst fears – it had been retired.

Having a rauch dunkel at my disposal for a good chunk of the year was such a blessing but the ride was over. Thankfully Lakefront stepped in to fill the void, albeit for a short time, with Nathan, a smoked dark lager that was the 22nd entry in their limited My Turn series which features styles chosen by employees of the esteemed Milwaukee brewery.

Lakefront was founded in 1987 making it one of the oldest microbreweries in Wisconsin. Indeed, it's one of the godfathers of the American microbrew scene. They offer a great brewery tour and brew a wide variety of beers. They've been tweaking their offerings as of late, though, with a distinct turn towards the hoppy. Not being a hophead, I haven't sampled their plethora of lupulin-heavy ales (including a Single Hop series which consists of nothing but IPAs and a Double IPA series) and I miss Cherry Lager. But there's always Riverwest Stein, a fixture at the High Noon Saloon, a new German pils, and My Turn produces something appealing relatively frequently.

Such are the times we live in.

And so I was quite happy to see Nathan on the shelf. Dunkels are something of a rarity themselves and a rauch dunkel trebly so. Considering the brewery's track record with lagers and rauchbiers I was expecting a fine brew.

It poured a dark amber and was unfashionably clear. The small tan head proved short-lived but I spied many a bubble inside the glass. That precious smoky scent caught my nose immediately and my notes say it was of that classic German beechwood variety but I cannot recall if that was my amateur rauchbier opinion, it was noted on the label, or if I had actually asked the brewery. For some reason I suspect I availed myself of the Twitters and asked. Beneath, between, and behind the beechwood goodness was a wee bit of grassy hop as well as a hint of doughy, sweet malt.

The proof of the bier is in the drinking, though. A nice slab of smoke pleased my palate immensely. Not so much of a bacon taste as it was, well, smoke. There was also a tasty mild bit of stone fruit malty sweetness balanced by some spicy hops. A generous dose of fizz kept the malty milieu from whelming my tongue.

Nathan's body (ahem) was medium-light which made the beer go down easily in the hot summer months. The smoke lingered on the finish and the hops became more prominent which made for a fairly dry, clean denouement. My glass was left with no Schaumhaftvermoegen as it has slid down into the bier.

My notes say "Good'n'smoky" and indeed it was. Lakefront certainly delivered as I expected them to. Rather than blather on about how much I loved the smoke taste, I shall instead add that I appreciated the bier's qualities which made it a delightful seasonal: the lightish body, the fizz, and the hops which added some balance to the malt. Nathan proved to be a fine brew both for the cool spring as well as the heat of early summer. The smoke provided a heartiness which went well as I waited for the aestival weather while the body and the fizz made Nathan equally drinkable as the summer kicked in.

I am sorry that this brew is no longer with us. R.I.P. Nathan.

Junk food pairing: I paired Nathan with Bacon Habanero Pretzel Crisps and didn't spare the horseradish dip.

You Got Fruit Juice in My Dunkel!: Bavarian Dunkel by Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company

At some point around the middle of last month I continued hot and cold relationship after seeing a new brew at my local bottle shop – Bavarian Dunkel. Most new Leinenkugel brews seem to be yet another iteration in their neverending parade of shandies. Yet here was a nod to the German roots of the venerable Chippewa Falls brewery. Reading the label, however, engendered hesitation as it noted that the bier was "Brewed With Natural Fruit Juices". Was this the first step towards the shandification of the dunkel?

According to Chris Drosner, Bavarian Dunkel replaces Snowdrift Vanilla Porter. This was a positive development to my mind as I found that beer to be syrupy dreck. Still, fruit juice in a dunkel?

It's not so much that I have a preternatural disposition against such a pairing as much as it is an anxiety over who it is introducing this novelty. This is Leinenkugel, after all, the brewery that has twisted and warped the poor shandy from being a simple, pleasant mix of ginger beer or lemonade and beer into the Boone's Farm of craft brewing. This experiment could be tasty or it could be Kool Aid.

Regardless of Leine's shandymania, the brewery is certainly no slouch and can whip up a fine brew. And so it's no surprise that, on appearance, at least, Bavarian Dunkel is shining example of bier. At casual glance, it is a stygian cupful, with a deep, deep copper color. I couldn't discern clarity but I am confident that is was clear as the style demands unless the fruit juices muddied the waters. The head was tan and creamy, lasting 30 seconds or so. Since light could barely penetrate the darkness, I couldn't tell what the bubble situation was like inside.

The aroma was full of dark chocolate and roasted grain like a good dark bier but the fruit juices – blackberry and elderberry as Mr. Drosner discovered – made themselves known. I thought of sour cherry. Mild grassy hops rounded things out.

I am guessing there weren't a whole lot of bubbles to be seen as the carbonation was restrained. However, this allowed bitter chocolate to step to the fore with roasty grain and faint coffee trailing. There was a slight fruity sweetness which tasted malty in addition to a moderate berry-like fruitiness. Elderberries are very tart and so I'd say this tasted more of blackberries. The hops linger in the background adding only a touch of bitterness which melded with the chocolate and, I'd bet, some elderberry tartness.

At the end the bier's choco-fruitiness was joined by some spicy hops which added a sprightly sheen of mint. There was no shortage of Schaumhaftvermoegen with thick streaks aplenty adorned with spots of foam all around.

With the first sip Bavarian Dark allayed my fears of it being an unearthly dunkel-shandy hybrid. It has a medium body with a nice creamy texture full of rich dark chocolate. The fruit juices are subtle and complement the dark grain flavors very well. Nothing overly sweet or cloying here. I wish more Wisconsin breweries steeped in the lager tradition would do something like this instead of abandoning it for pastures of tropical fruit eyepahs.

Junk food pairing: Being the new winter seasonal, Bavarian Dunkel will be around for a spell. Well, at least until next month when summer seasonals come out. You'll have some time, at least, to enjoy one with a bag of Jay's Barbeque potato chips. The BBQ dust has a smoky side that goes well with the dunkel side of Bavarian Dunkel but also a dash of sweetness to complement the berry juice. On the sweet side gingerbread cookies are everywhere these days and also pair well with it as they have a nice pungent earthiness to them that I like with the roasted grain flavors in the bier.

You Got Chocolate in My Rauchbier!: Chimney Sweep with Cocoa Nibs by August Schell Brewing Company

My last two reviews were from biers released in the spring and summer, respectively, so it's only proper that I now take on a more youthful brew from the autumn. Indeed, with the winter still a week and a half away, astronomically speaking, one could argue that this bier is yet in season. Available exclusively in Schell's fall sampler – its Prost Pack – I believe it arrived just as the autumn began.

It's not easy finding these sampler packs from our neighbors to the west. Schell doesn't exactly toot its own horn over them either. I can find neither hide nor hair about the Prost Pack at the brewery's website. This is perhaps understandable regarding their normal sampler pack which is simply a mix of year-round and seasonal biers. But the Prost Pack contains two biers not found elsewhere so why is Schell mum when it should be out there proudly attacking the hoppy tyranny of the eyepah?

Here in Madison I've had luck at Riley's Wines of the World but have been told that there's a lag time of of up to two months before a new Schell's product hits their shelves. Two months?! Then again, it's probably fair to say that Madison is not exactly in love with Schell and their German craft ethos as the rough beast I call home slouches towards Portlandia to be reborn as a pale reimagining of its lagery roots.

One of the new biers in the Prost Pack is Chimney Sweep with Cocoa Nibs. Chimney Sweep is what Schell calls an "extended seasonal" which means it's on store shelves a goodly part of the year. It is a rauch dunkel and a rather tasty one at that. Cocoa nibs are, I read here, bits of cocoa beans that have been fermented and then roasted in preparation to be transmogrified into chocolate. The admixture of roasty, earthy pyrazines and thizoles from the cocoa nibs and the smoky guaiacols and syringols sounded like a match made in heaven to me.

In the glass, the bier appeared ebony but held to the light I could see that it was a deep ruby-copper confluence. It was clear and I spied with my little eye a fair number of bubbles inside while up top was a small, creamy tan head that hung around about half a minute or thereabouts.

The aroma was heavenly with bitter chocolate and the base bier's rich smoke doing a delicate pas de deux. There was a lingering sweetness here too which is part and parcel of the non-cocoa nibbed Chimney Sweep.

Firm carbonation hit my tongue and was followed by the smoky goodness that I know and love. Dark chocolate was tucked in behind which not only added a nice earthy taste but it also added a touch of bitterness. The dunkel shone through with a nice, hearty roasted grain flavor with just a smidgen of coffee as well. As the bier warmed it took on the taste of stone fruit but never became overly sweet.

For the finale the smoke lingered while a grassy hoppiness stepped out from the shadows to add a little bitterness and some dryness too for a nice, crisp finish. There was a fair amount of Schaumhaftvermoegen which came in the form a webbing around much of my glass.

Opening this bottle I felt that it must surely be preordained that I'd love this bier and so it was. Those cocoa nibs didn't turn my beloved Chimney Sweep into some strange chocolate milkshake-like concoction. Instead they settled easily into a milieu of complementary flavors. The cocoa sat comfortably next to the smoke, roasted grain, and coffee of the rauch dunkel. Malt sweetness added a nice contrast. And I really enjoyed the hops on the finish which, on the one hand, added a contrasting dose of greenery yet also provided bitterness to join that of the cocoa nibs. While Chimney Sweep with Cocoa Nibs has a medium body with plenty of room for its variety of flavors, it also has that nice clean lager taste. It is a shame that such a tasty brew was sequestered away in a variety pack that was given precious little press.

Junk food pairing: Grab a bag of Pepperoni Pizza Cracker Combos to go with your Chimney Sweep with Cocoa Nibs. The faux pepperoni adds a spicy pork-like flavor and we all know you've gotta have pork to go with German biers.

Fanfare for the Uncommon Beer: 30th Anniversary Dunkel by Capital Brewery

2016 marks the 30th anniversary of Capital Brewery, well, brewing. The company itself came into existence in 1984 but brewing didn't commence for a couple of years. To celebrate, the brewery whipped a few special biers: Munich Dark infused with coffee and vanilla, an imperial pilsner, a pear Kölsch, and, most recently, a spiced Oktoberfest.

Capital also released Madtown Mule, their Lakehouse Lager infused with ginger and lime juice, but I don't know if this was in honor of the 30th anniversary or not. Similarly, there have been various barrel aged offering but, again, I am unsure if they are anniversary one-offs or just part of their nascent barrel aging program.

What is striking to me is how little fanfare was made of the anniversary. Maybe the brewery really whooped it up on social media that I do not frequent – I am certainly willing to concede that. But I doubt it. None of the anniversary biers were bottled and I don't recall the brewery actually throwing an anniversary bash. Did I miss it? Go to the Capital website and try to find any mention of these celebratory biers. When Grateful Red, their red IPA, was released, Madison buses were wrapped in adverts for it. For special anniversary one-off lagers, it's good luck finding them on tap. Sad.

Growlers to Go-Go recently tapped a barrel of the Munich Dark infused with coffee and vanilla. Considering that the bier was released in the spring, this was probably not the freshest bier. But it's not about hops and was presumably stored nice and cool so, while perhaps not optimal, I saw no reason not to give it a try.

The bier was a dark copper color and quite clear. While there was a good amount of bubbles inside the glass, up top there was no head. This was likely due to my poor pouring ability and the fact that this was day two of the brew sitting in my growler.

Taking a whiff, I found that vanilla was up front with the coffee just behind it. And they smelled really nice and rich. Taking a sip, I found that the vanilla was still right up there but that the coffee had become a little stronger. And so, in addition to a great coffee taste, there was also some bitter chocolate to be had. The dunkel seeped through as well as I was able to taste some roasted grains. In addition to flavor, the coffee also added some bitterness which mingled with the hops that gave a grassy/spicy taste and moderate bitterness of their own.

The coffee and vanilla lingered pleasantly on the finish while the hops reached a spicy crescendo. But not too spicy. Just enough to give some bitterness and end on a mildly dry note. Schaumhaftvermoegen was nowhere to be found.

This bier was ausgezeichnet! The coffee and vanilla combination was just great. I suppose they go well together since they have complementary earthy flavors. But the vanilla adds a little sweetness while the coffee contributes bitterness. While these infusions are the stars of the show, I could still taste the roasted grain of the clean, crisp dunkel beneath.

This should have been bottled and given a wider release. Not only is it an extremely tasty brew but Capital, as the alpha of Madison area craft brewing, deserves to have their anniversary celebrated better.

Junk food pairing: Pair your 30th anniversary dunkel with something that complements the infusions like some Snyder's Dark Chocolate Pretzel Dips.

The Trouble With the Maples: Maple Dunkel by Leinenkugel Brewing Company

I am taking a break from the Oktoberfest madness before I polish off the remaining ones in my cellar. It's like a 7th inning stretch. Besides, there is a cornucopia of non-Märzen beers out there to enjoy.

One that tried recently was Leinenkukgel's Maple Dunkel. The bier is available only as part of their Autumn Explorer Pack. Well, unless the liquor store you frequent busts the packs open to sell as singles. I was ambivalent about it going in. On the one hand, another of their newish seasonals, Snowdrift Vanilla Porter was simply disgusting to my palate and exemplifies how flavorings bring out the worst in the brewery. On the other, this year's Spring Explorer Pack brought Heart of Oak, an oak aged Vienna lager which was excellent.

But I like dunkels, I like maple syrup. Either this bier would be a cloying train wreck or another justification for my sentimental love of the brewery despite it being a subsidiary of the Omni Corp of brewing.

Having lived up by Eau Claire for a stretch, Leine's has a special place in my heart. It was something of a hometown brewery during the interregnum between the closing of Hibernia and the opening of the Northwoods Brewpub, circa 1997, which was the next brewery to set up shop in Eau Claire, during which many old duffs bemoaned the loss of Walters at taverns across the area. During my college days when money was tight, Leinekugel's (Original) was a welcome respite from countless half-barrels of Old Milwaukee. After college, when money was tight, I couldn't afford to drink Sprecher all day at Summerfest and so I quaffed many a Leine's Honey Weiss.

And so despite having sold out to Miller in 1988 and having run the shandy into the ground, I still indulge in a Leine's every once in a while. Besides, they have a nice tour.

Maple Dunkel pours a lovely deep copper color and is quite clear. I think I need to start pouring every beer like you're supposed to pour bottled nitro brews – turn the bottle upside down into the glass and shake like a maraca. For whatever reason, I was only able to produce a small head. The light tan foam didn't stick around very long. There were some bubbles inside. Aside from my poor pouring, it was a very beautiful bier.

As I was inspecting the appearance, I could smell maple. It was somewhere between maple syrup and maple-flavored syrup although it leaned towards the latter. The aroma was sweet and overpowered the basic bier with just a tiny hit of dark malt roast coming though. At this point I was basically resigned to my fate which was going to be drinking a flavored mess. Another Snowdrift – cloying and awful.

It was no surprise to taste maple. Lots and lots of maple – flavoring. It was cloyingly sweet with an overabundance of vanilla-caramel taste but lacking the woody-earthy flavors and the slight tartness that real maple syrup has. A rather muted dose of roasted grain could not penetrate the treacle while some spicy hops struggled to be tasted.

That maple flavoring lingered a bit at the end until spicy/grassy hops come and add some welcome bitterness and dryness. There was no Schaumhaftvermoegen in sight.

Maple Dunkel is a dreadful bier to my taste. I've had beers brewed with maple syrup and maple sap and some were good and some weren't. I can imagine a tasty dunkel that has been laced with maple flavoring – if the flavoring has been used judiciously. That's not the case here because there's no dunkel here. It's just maple flavoring. Although I will say that I liked the hops quite a bit as they were the only thing that I could taste besides maple.

Junk food pairing: I kept my snacking simple with Maple Dunkel and indulged in plain old Cheez Its.

Frankenbier: Dunkel by Prost Brewing Company

Denver's Prost Brewing is an anomaly in the microbrewing world. There's no IPx in their line-up nor any bier that is understood today to be "hop forward", as far as I can tell, and their packaging is certainly on the utilitarian side. Scantily clad women do not adorn blonde lagers while their doppelbock does not intimate that consuming it will put the drinker in extremis. Then again, their taproom may have a Citra-laced IPL on tap between Dirndl Ripper Helles and a barrel aged doppelbock called Me 262.

But I rather doubt it.

Seeing Prost on store shelves makes me kind of sad. Sad in that I feel my state pride deflated a little bit. Wisconsin was once the epicenter of American brewing led by companies started by German immigrants. Somewhere around 30% of the people in the state claim some German ancestry even today. Bratwurst is ubiquitous and towns and cities around the state have Oktoberfests in the autumn. Milwaukee was once known as "the German Athens" and today its major league baseball team is called the Brewers and games features a sausage race. It does not seem wrong for an outside observer to assume that somewhere in Wisconsin there is an all-lager or all-German style microbrewery.

Well, if there is one, I do not know about it. Sprecher and Capital, the twin pillars of our state's microbrewing industry that began by brewing German styles, abandoned that kind of obeisance long ago. Don't get me wrong, I am not arguing that Wisconsin breweries should slavishly adhere to tradition. But where they could have built on Wisconsin's German brewing traditions and melded them with the new, they instead moved away from it. The only breweries on our shelves now that I am aware of that adhere completely to lagers/German bier styles are Chicago's Metropolitan and Prost.

End of jeremiad.

Prost is one of those few breweries that cleaves to German tradition, if their website is any indication. I've already tried three of their biers and they were all quite common German styles brewed sans Citra hops, barrel aging, or souring. Today I have their dunkel which the brewery advertises as being in the "Frankonian Style". Franconia is a region in southeastern Germany. I don't believe that it's a state or legal municipal entity but rather more like the Midwest here in the States. Prost contrasts Franconian dunkels to their Bavarians cousins by saying that they are "slightly stronger and drier". And is their wont, the bier has a typically austere name – "Dunkel".

Dunkel pours a lovely copper color and was perfectly clear. My glass had a loose, light tan head on the small side that lasted only a short time. There was a smattering of bubbles inside the brew moving on up.

The aroma was full of roasted grain scents, but not of the highly roasted chocolate malts of the last dark lager I tried. Behind them was a hint of stone fruit sweetness.

There was, however, a bit of chocolate to be had in the flavor. Not near as much as was in Baba from a few days ago or a porter/stout, but it was there. Those roasted grains were here and I shouldn't be surprised as Prost practices decoction mashing which some swear gives bier that fine Maillard reaction toasty maltiness which we have here. A slightly doughy sweetness rounds out the malty trifecta. The carbonation was great adding a little fizzy bite but not enough to detract from the grainy goodness. Lastly, there was some spicy hop lingering in the background.

For the finish all those malts ceded my tongue rather hastily leaving the Hallertau hops and their herbal/spicy taste free rein to help dry out the finish with a healthy dose of bitterness. Sadly and surprisingly, there was no Schaumhaftvermoegen. It all slid down my glass to be subsumed by the last remaining liquid.

If it is indeed true that decoction mashing will give you toasty malt flavors that you just can't get any other way, then Dunkel benefits immensely from it. The roasted grain taste, including the chocolate, was fantastisch but I wish it was just a bit richer, a bit fuller. The carbonation was perfect, adding the right amount of dryness and bite. And the hops on the finish were on target with their botanical bitterness. Dunkel is 5.2% A.B.V. which I suppose is just a bit stronger than your average dunkel but it did not taste particularly drier than the Bavarian versions of the style I've had. Surely something to investigate further. In Franconia.

Junk food pairing: Dunkel pairs well with Kettle Brand Maple Bacon potato chips. I mean, German biers just demand to be consumed with pork or pork-flavored foods.