North East Beer Review

Dunkel is a style of beer that I like but often overlook for other German styles such as a Marzen or Helles style. Dunkel is known as a dark lager which offers a more caramel tasting note compared to other styles. This was gifted by a work colleague and Beak is a brewery I have tried a couple IPAs and have always been a fan. So, this interested me as I was thinking about trying more brews from Beak especially experimenting with styles other than an IPA. So what did I think of Beak Steins? To find out I will cover the history of the brewery and beer, the pour, the taste and aroma and finally my verdict

A brewery with serious status

Beak Brewery was founded by Danny Tapper who was a food and drink writer who had ‘cuckoo brewed’ his own recipes for UK breweries such as Beavertown, Northern Monk and Burning Sky. This helped him create notoriety and develop a reputation before even founding his own brewery. In 2020, Beak opened up in Lewes which came with its own brewery, taproom and street-food canteen.

Beak is known for its hop forward beers but has branched out into pilsners, saisons and imperial stouts. They have an emphasis on hop character and freshness which often take inspiration from pacific coast beer culture. At lot of their beers are brewed using local ingredients sourced from South Downs National Park.

Beak’s Steins is a modern UK craft beer take on the traditional German style of dark lager called a Dunkel. The Dunkel style dates back to Bavaria’s traditional brewing techniques and is known for bready to almost caramel malt base and its smooth drinkable nature. This was brewed by Beak as ‘homage to the delight of drinking a frothy stein of Munich Dunkel on the wooden benches of a Bavarian Beerhall’. Steins carries an ABV of 5.5% and utilises Munich malts and traditional lager yeast.

A frothy pour

Beak Steins presents a mahogany brown with a hint of ruby, typical of a Munich style Dunkel. A frothy foamy head forms which was an off white colour and it retained during the drinking experience. Thus, a decent amount of lacing was present. The beer was relatively clear and the carbonation was moderate which had a steady stream of bubbles consistently present. Overall, this is what you would expect from a traditional Munich Dunkel.

A rich malty flavour profile

Aroma

Steins opens with a malty caramel to toasted bread aroma. This offers a subtle and gentle sweetness which almost combines to give you a chocolate edge. As the beer opens up, a herbal hop aroma presents itself which balances the sweetness from the malt bill. This beer was clean and allows the nutty toasted aromas to take charge. Overall, a warm and smooth aroma.

Taste

The taste of Steins delivers a malt forward experience which begins with flavours of toasted bread and nuts. Furthermore, this was followed by a caramel and chocolatey edge. This offers a sweetness which is not overpowering. Mid Palate, an herbal hop bitterness balances the sweetness. The beer is smooth and easy drinking. The finish of the Dunkel is clean and dry with lingering malt flavour present. Overall, this beer doesn’t try to do anything fancy or sophisticated, it basically appears to want to create a very good Dunkel in which I feel it has succeeded.

Time for my verdict.

Overall, Beak is known for its hop forward and experimentation nature which has given Beak a great reputation within the UK craft beer scene. However, when it comes to Steins I feel this beer does the opposite such as utilising a Malt forward bill, allowing the smooth and toasty flavours to shine, as well as just ensuring the Dunkel did what you would expect. I enjoyed this beer and I felt it was extremely easy drinking and deep with flavour. Overall, I rate this a great 4 out of 5. Cheers.

Where did I purchase this beer?

I was gifted this beer from a work colleague and this was purchased from The House of Trembling Madness in York.

Thanks for reading my review. If you enjoyed this review, you will love my review of Stiegl Goldbrau.