Who is she? What does she bring to my palate? According to a seal printed on the can, Warsteiner Dunkel is brewed in a natural way, a claim that is supplemented by the statement that Warsteiner adheres to the German Reinheitsgebot, an edict I have previously mentioned. However, it is not clear to me what this seal is intended to communicate. There are no organic certifications other than a declaration of being brewed with selected roast malts (which, I note, are nicely reflected in the taste of this beer), and brewing according to the Reinheitsgebot is rather like obtaining an MBA these days - a sine qua non. The can also self-declares Warsteiner as the official supplier of the European Golf Tour, leading me to wonder not about the projection of status, which seems evident, but of the combined character meaning our Dark Snow Queen is intended to have. She seems to be a conservative royal who pretends to be hip, and her black belt in image management qualifies her to swing a golf club at consumer subjects who do not comply with popular mythology.
The Warsteiner Brewery is a privately owned family organization, and one of the largest such breweries in Germany. I applaud their desire to stay independent and am delighted to see them continue a 250 year tradition, even as they have also assumed a leading position in a modern brewery group to compete with the big corporate brewing bigwigs. According to Wikipedia, they have been brewing for export markets since the 19th century. I was a little flabbergasted to learn also that the Warsteiner Brewery had its reputation sullied in 1994 by allegations of a link to the Church of Scientology. Just a month ago, the long serving President and owner, Albert Cramer died, and his daughter Catharina Cramer, who had been managing the firm together with him for the past few years, has now assumed the position of President. I wish her best of success in this job, as its tough going out there against the aforementioned big boys. I would also like to note that in the old days, women were the principal brewers in the household, so Warsteiner may very well be in good hands. If she decides to continue her father's success in image positioning, I sure would like to discuss that with her.
I like the reflections of twigs in the beer glass in all three pictures, and the shadows of twigs on the can.
The taste of this beer was quite satisfying, brewed in a similar style as the Samson Tmavý ležák. The front palate was a nice combination of dark malts (those mentioned above, I presume) with a little bit of grist texture from spent grain, the kind destined to be fed to pigs in the brewer's industrial symbiosis with farmers. There is ample hops bitterness throughout the middle and back palate, and the overall mouthfeel is as it should be for the style, with only a hint of that sugary taste of rationalization on the middle palate. A faint grainy bitterness, reminiscent of burnt toast, comes through at the back palate, giving this beer an overall nice balance, even as some hops notes lingered a bit too long for my liking.
By the time of the last photo, the top of the foam head became wonderfully stable because it froze.
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