History of dark lager

Dark Lagers are wonderful beers to drink on cool, Fall days. Their malty richness and pleasant, sweet flavors also tend to pair well with a variety of foods. Lager is a bottom fermented beer, originally stored for long periods in the cold. It is pale in color and moderately hopped, with a flavor not usually characterized by any aroma in particular.

The origins of modern lagers date to Austria (Vienna) in the early nineteenth century. Anton Dreher is credited with brewing the very first lager in 1836. Anton Dreher was an Austrian brewer and the founder of the Dreher Breweries who was an important figure in the development of pale lager.

Prior to that time, all beers being brewed were ales, but Dreher was able to isolate a strain of yeast that fermented at lower, lager temperatures and created a beer that was brewed entirely with that yeast. His creation eventually became the Vienna Lager.

German brewers quickly adopted Dreher's creation and brewed Vienna lagers in Bavaria for years. Some areas, such as Munich, had moderately hard carbonate water. Their water was more suited for making dark beers. So that's what they did. Brewers in Munich used the new lager yeasts that were becoming available but used the darker malts. These new lagers were called Dunkel ("dark") beers. They were a deep-brown mahogany colored all-barley lager.
History of dark lager