Beer Styles

What is a Dortmunder Export? It's a bottom-fermented, golden beer with moderate alcohol content that originated in Dortmund as an export beer. Great Lakes in Cleveland brews a well-known example with its Dortmunder Gold. It's fuller-bodied than a Helles and less bitter than a Pilsner. The style arrived in Ohio in the 19th century with German immigrants.

How much alcohol does an American Pale Ale have? According to the 2021 BJCP competition guidelines, it's 4.5 to 6.2 percent ABV. Cleveland's Burning River Pale Ale fits this profile. It's top-fermented, smells of citrus and resin, and is noticeably more bitter than the Dortmunder.

The IPA is the strongest beer in this region. Rhinegeist's Truth IPA is, according to the brewery, a West Coast IPA at 7.2 percent ABV. An American IPA, per the BJCP, falls between 5.5 and 7.5 percent ABV with 40 to 70 IBU. It's drier and hoppier than the pale ale. Drinking an IPA, you'll taste citrus peel, grapefruit, and pine resin first, with the malt coming through only afterward. IBU stands for International Bitterness Units and measures a beer's bitterness.

Cincinnati's old-style lager belongs to history rather than today's flagship beers. With the Christian Moerlein Select Lager, revived by Hudepohl in 1981, it lives on as a brand. An American lager tastes milder and easier-drinking than a German pilsner.

Why does the Dortmunder matter so much? Because it shows that Ohio's craft brewers also keep a lager tradition alive. Alongside pale ale and IPA stands a style whose model comes from Dortmund, Germany's historic center of coal and steel.