Friday 9 April 2010

German Export

Ha. Still not forgotten that it's German Month. A triumph of memory.

Just for a change, I'm not going to bang on about weird, forgotten top-fermenting styles. Today we're in Lagerland, looking at a beer that was once as mainstream as it gets. Export was for a large chunk of the 20th century, the best-selling type of beer in Germany. Until it went out of fashion and the German public's affection switched to Pils.

Export. The name has nothing to do with being shipped abroad. Like Lagerbier, Märzen and Bock, Export is an indication of strength. Export slotted between Lagerbier and Märzen in the strength hierarchy. At one time it would have been a minimum of 13º Plato (around 1052º). As it's popularity eroded after 1970, so did its gravity. Many current examples are barely 12º Plato (around 1048º).

As with those other gravity-related terms, Export came in a variety of colours. The classic Dunkles of Munich was originally a Dunkles Export. But as dark Lagers became more rare, the older distinction between Dunkles Lagerbier and Dunkles Export became irrelevant and fell into disuse. As usual, the style nazis have chosen a single variation - Dortmunder Export - as representing the whole style. Just ignore them and listen to me. I know what I'm talking about. Honest.

Almost forgot. At the time when Vienna Lagers were actually brewed in Austria, you also had amber Export. But these beers, as far as I am aware, disappeared yonks ago. Unless, of course, you count some of the higher-gravity amber Lagers brewed ion the Czech Republic.

Here's a pretty random selection of Exports from across the decades:


German Export
Year
Brewer
Beer
Style
Acidity
FG
OG
Colour
ABV
attenuation
1884
Actien Brauhaus, Hanover
Export
Export
0.183
1014.6
1065.6

6.96
76.68%
1890
Aktienexportbierbrauerei, Kulmbach
Helles Exportbier
Export
0.15
1016.1
1064.6

6.31
75.02%
1890
Aktienexportbierbrauerei, Kulmbach
Dunkles
Export

1029.2
1080.4

6.63
63.67%
2004
August, Augsburg
Export
Export

1010.4
1050.3

5.20
78.56%
1930
average of 14 samples
Export Dortmunder
Export

1012.2
1054.0
0.73
5.39
76.44%
1901
Brauhaus Würzburg
Export Beer
Export
0.099
1020.9
1061.1

5.09
64.40%
1961
Dortmunder - Hansa
Dortmunder Urtyp
Export
0.04
1006.7
1053.7
9.5
5.88
87.52%
1890
Gebrüder Lederer, Nürnberg
Exportbier
Export

1020.4
1059.8

5.10
65.89%
1900
German
Export
Export

1018.1
1053.6

4.60
65.06%
1900
German
Export
Export

1019.1
1059.1

5.19
66.51%
1930
German
Foreign Export Beer
Export

1007.8
1048.0
0.66
5.20
83.03%
1930
German
Foreign Export Beer
Export

1009.0
1051.8
0.47
5.42
81.78%
1898
Hamburger
Export
Export

1012.7
1046.0

4.28
71.52%
1898
Hanover
Export
Export

1013.2
1050.7

4.70
73.10%
1884
Henninger, Erlangen
Export
Export
0.148
1013.8
1059.3

5.76
75.72%
1885
Kulmbacher
Export
Export

1029.8
1072.3

5.48
57.10%
1887
Kulmbacher
Export
Export

1017.5
1062.3

5.81
70.59%
1884
Kulmbacher Actien
Export
Export
0.18
1025.1
1068.1

5.39
61.56%
1879
Löwenbräu, Munich
Export
Export
0.23
1014.0
1055.5

5.25
73.76%
1901
Löwenbräu, Munich
Export
Export

1016.1
1054.7

5.01
69.48%
2004
Paulaner
Urtyp
Export

1008.2
1050.3

5.50
83.04%
1885
Pschorr, Munich
Export
Export
0.14
1017.9
1057.0

5.00
67.31%
1896
Pschorr, Munich
Export
Export
0.108
1024.0
1057.8

4.34
57.08%
1897
Pschorr, Munich
Export
Export
0.045
1020.5
1056.7

4.64
62.57%
1901
Pschorr, Munich
Export
Export
0.072
1017.2
1053.5

4.65
66.82%
1878
Robby, Nürnberg
Export
Export
0.21
1017.5
1054.3

4.71
66.49%
1885
Sedlmayer, Munich
Export
Export
0.18
1017.7
1064.6

6.13
71.29%
1879
Spaten, Munich
Export
Export

1019.7
1055.4

4.61
63.14%
1879
Spaten, Munich
Export
Export
0.19
1019.7
1055.7

4.68
63.33%
1890
Spatenbräu, München
Exportbier
Export

1015.5
1057.8

5.50
73.27%
1930
strongest sample
Export Dortmunder
Export

1014.3
1057.2
0.84
5.58
73.85%
1895
Thüringer
Export
Export
0.09
1013.4
1050.7

4.70
72.60%
1898
Thüringer
Export
Export

1009.0
1040.3

3.89
76.83%
1895
Tucher, Nürnberg
Export
Export
0.135
1020.1
1062.2

5.39
66.30%
1870
Unknown, Magdeburg
Export
Export

1018.1
1058.6

5.25
69.11%
1898
Unknown, Nürnberg
Export
Export

1020.0
1057.7

4.85
64.09%
1930
weakest sample
Export Dortmunder
Export

1009.4
1051.2
0.66
5.08
80.88%
1870's
Weihenstephan
Export
Export
2.00



4.05
0.00%
1870
Weihenstephaner
Export
Export

1018.9
1049.9

4.00
62.12%
1890
Weihenstephaner
Exportbier
Export

1025.9
1057.4

4.05
54.85%
1878
Wladschlösschen, Dresden
Export
Export
0.17
1014.8
1052.5

4.49
70.81%
1879
Wladschlösschen, Dresden
Export
Export
0.2
1018.5
1068.3

6.20
71.56%
2004
August, Augsburg
Festbier
Festbier

1011.6
1054.6

5.60
77.93%
Sources:
"Bericht über die Entwickelung der chemischen Industrie während des letzten Jahrzehends" by August Wilhelm von Hofmann, 1877, page 382
"Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel" by Joseph König, 1879, pages 147 - 158
"Handbuch der chemischen technologie" by Otto Dammer, Rudolf Kaiser, 1896, pages 696-697
"Van Brouwerij tot Bierglas" by F. Kurris, Doetinchem, 1948, pages 26-27
brewery's website
The 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica
Wahl & Henius, pages 823-830
Whitbread Gravity Book


You'll surely have seen that most are in the 1050-1060 range. Though there are a few quite a wide outside that range both above and below.

I always think of Export as the German equivalent of Mild. A grand old gentleman who's fallen on hard times. No wonder I follow its fate with such attention.

5 comments:

Matt said...

I think it was Michael Jackson who defined (Dortmunder) Export as a stronger version of Pils, i.e. hoppy, golden and bottom-fermented.

Isn't Dunkles Export hoppier than Dunkles as well as stronger? That would fit your analogy of Helles and Dunkles with Light and Dark Milds.

Ron Pattinson said...

Matt, I think Michael Jackson also differentiated Dortmunder Export a bit more, observing it was darker, fuller-bodied and less hoppy than Pils.

How hoppy a Dunkles Export is depends on where it comes from. Most of the Franconian ones are a good deal hoppier than those from Southern Bavaria.

Elektrolurch said...

The problem is, most little franconion brewers JUST DON'T care about style....
Dunkles Export pops up sometimes, sometimes DUnkles, sometimes Landbier.......
And all these Times can refer to the same strength beer....
As fascinating as all those tables always are, beer"styles" is,espaicilly when it comes to small regional breweries, a very loose term.
I know for instance of a lot of different francion beers, called something like ,,Landbier" or ,,bernsteinfarbenes Landbier" which are around 5,4% and are amber....

Ron Pattinson said...

Elektorlurch, very, very true. Sometimes Franconian breweries just call their beer Hausbier.

One of the points I was trying to make is that, historically, Export wasn't so much a style as a strength. If this doesn't always work today, it's because of changes in gravity of individual beers over the years.

I'll be publishing something soon about how Germans classified beer in 1900. It's conceptually very different to modern systems of classification.

Mike said...

I don't think it's only small Franconian brewers who don't care about style - very few brewers in Belgium care also. It seems style is mainly something dictated and policed by groups who live too far away to understand these beers.