Malt & Grain

A beer like the Doppelbock Dunkel needs a lot of malt. Malt is grain that has been allowed to germinate in water and is then dried, so that starch and enzymes are ready to form the wort. Wort is the sugary liquid from which beer is later made.

The monastery buys its malt from selected maltsters. According to the brewery, it stocks pale and dark barley malt as well as wheat malt, each from at least two suppliers, plus smaller silos for specialty malts. There's no in-house malting facility on the mountain.

In Bavaria, two-row spring barley is considered the top choice for malting, since it has low protein content and keeps the beer clear. Since the Reinheitsgebot, malt in Bavaria may only be made from barley, with wheat malt added for wheat beer.

Dark malts are roasted more heavily during kilning, the drying and heating process in the oven. This produces aromas reminiscent of bread crust, caramel, and cocoa. For the Doppelbock Dunkel, the brewery describes fine cocoa and dark chocolate notes that come precisely from this roasting.

According to the monastery, mashing follows the decoction method: part of the mash is drawn off, boiled, and returned, raising the temperature in stages. This takes time and energy, but it brings a depth of malt character you can taste in the finished bock. Kloster Andechs's Weißbier Dunkel also uses dark barley and wheat malts, which give it roasted notes and a light sweetness. Anyone tasting these beers side by side will immediately recognize, from the malt alone, which one comes from the Heiliger Berg.