Pale lager
Dortmunder Export
A pale lager sitting between Helles and Pils: fuller and firmer than the first, softer and less bitter than the second.
- Strength
- 4.8–6% ABV
- Bitterness
- 20–30 IBU
- Colour
- Deep gold
- Serve at
- 5–8°C
Also known as Export, Dortmunder, German Helles Exportbier.
Dortmunder Export sits deliberately between Munich Helles and German Pils, and the water is why. Dortmund's supply is high in sulphate and carbonate, which supports both a firmer bitterness than a Helles and a fuller malt body than a Pils — so the beer is a little stronger and a little rounder than either, without committing to malt or hops the way its neighbours do.
That balance made it an export beer in the literal sense: brewed slightly stronger to travel, and marketed to the industrial Ruhr. It has lost ground commercially to Pils, which means most drinkers meet it as a curiosity rather than as a default. What it offers is the malt-forward drinkability of a Helles with enough bitterness to keep a second glass interesting.
Questions this page answers
- what does dortmunder export taste like — How it tastes
- dortmunder export abv — Measurements
- dortmunder export food pairing — What to eat with it
- dortmunder export serving temperature — Serving
- how long does dortmunder export last — Freshness and storage
- styles similar to dortmunder export — If you like this, try
- how to brew dortmunder export — How it is made
- what beer is an example of dortmunder export — Beers to try
How it tastes
BeerHQ’s own comparative scale, not a measurement. Each bar is a range because a style is a span of real beers rather than one beer.
Appearance and character
| Colour | Deep gold |
|---|---|
| Clarity | brilliant |
| Head | White, persistent |
| Fermentation | Bottom-fermented (lager). Fermented cool with Saccharomyces pastorianus, which settles out, then conditioned cold. The cooler process suppresses yeast-derived fruitiness, leaving malt and hop character exposed. |
| Origin | Germany — Dortmund (Later nineteenth century, when Dortmund brewed strong and stable enough to export) |
Measurements
Conventional ranges published by style bodies, not a specification. IBU measures iso-alpha acids in a lab and does not track perceived bitterness — compare it against the sensory scale above rather than reading it as a flavour rating.
| Measurement | Typical range |
|---|---|
| ABV | 4.8–6% ABV |
| IBU | 20–30 IBU |
| Colour | Deep gold — 4–7 SRM, 8–14 EBC. |
| Original gravity | 1.048–1.056 |
| Final gravity | 1.010–1.015 |
| Carbonation | 2–3 vol CO₂ |
Classified by BJCP-2021 as German Helles Exportbier (exact fit). BeerHQ maintains its own taxonomy and records how it maps onto others rather than adopting any one of them.
What goes into it
| Hops | Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, Tettnanger |
|---|---|
| Malt | Pilsner malt, Munich malt |
| Yeast | German lager yeast |
| Water | Dortmund water — Hard water high in both sulphate and chloride, producing a pale lager firmer than a Helles but softer than a northern Pils. |
Serving
| Temperature | 5–8°C |
|---|---|
| Glass | Willi Becher |
Freshness and storage
Dortmunder Export shows best within 3–6 months of packaging. After that it declines in quality rather than becoming unsafe.
Drink fresh. Buy it as young as you can and drink it soon. What makes this beer worth drinking is the first thing to leave it.
- A delicate beer with a short window. What makes it good is cleanliness and definition, which are the first things to blur.
What changes with time
- Staling. The general, gradual loss of freshness that affects all beer, accelerated sharply by warmth. Months, and roughly twice as fast for every 10 °C warmer.
- Lightstrike. The skunky note that develops when beer is exposed to light through inadequate packaging. Minutes in direct sun; days to weeks under shop lighting.
In the package
- Aluminium can — No light can reach the beer, so lightstrike is impossible in this format.
- Brown glass bottle — No format-specific concerns beyond the general advice above.
- Green glass bottle — Light reaches the beer through this glass. Keep it in the dark, and be wary of bottles that have sat under shop lighting.
- Keg — No light can reach the beer, so lightstrike is impossible in this format.
Old beer tastes worse; it does not become dangerous. Ethanol, low pH, hop compounds and the absence of oxygen make packaged beer hostile to the organisms that cause foodborne illness. The exception is a compromised package — visible mould at the closure, a pierced or rusted can, a lifted cap — which is a reason to discard the beer regardless of its age.
Guidance, not an expiry date. How a beer is stored matters more than the date printed on it, and staling roughly doubles in rate for every 10 °C. See storage and freshness for the full model.
What to eat with it
- Adobo
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
- Gyoza
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
- Ham
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
- Pad Thai
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
- Smørrebrød
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
- Tapas
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Beers to try
Widely-known examples BeerHQ carries as reference points for this style. Not a recommendation list and not ranked — these are the beers that make the category concrete.
If you like this, try
Munich Helles
The softer, slightly weaker Bavarian counterpart.
Suits you if: You want something very close to Dortmunder Export without simply repeating it. Reason not to: Very close to Dortmunder Export — if you were hoping for a change of direction, this is not it.
Pre-Prohibition lager
Same family — both are Pale lager beers.
Suits you if: You like Dortmunder Export but want more floral. Reason not to: The main shift is more floral, which is a small step rather than a change of direction.
Kellerbier
Same family — both are Pale lager beers.
Suits you if: You like Dortmunder Export but want less carbonation. Reason not to: The main shift is less carbonation, which is a small step rather than a change of direction.
Czech premium pale lager
Same family — both are Pale lager beers.
Suits you if: You like Dortmunder Export but want more hop aroma. Reason not to: The main shift is more hop aroma, which is a small step rather than a change of direction.
Festbier
Same family — both are Pale lager beers.
Suits you if: You like Dortmunder Export but want less hop spice. Reason not to: The main shift is less hop spice, which is a small step rather than a change of direction.
Compare with
- Dortmunder Export vs India pale lager — The main difference is citrus: India pale lager has far more of it than Dortmunder Export. India pale lager also leads on hop aroma, resin & pine and bitterness.
- Dortmunder Export vs Czech premium pale lager — Dortmunder Export and Czech premium pale lager are closer than the comparison suggests. The measurable differences are small — floral is the largest of them — so tradition, strength and what each is brewed for will tell you more than the flavour axes do.
- Dortmunder Export vs German Pils — Dortmunder Export and German Pils are closer than the comparison suggests. The measurable differences are small — floral is the largest of them — so tradition, strength and what each is brewed for will tell you more than the flavour axes do.
- Dortmunder Export vs American lager — The main difference is bread & biscuit: Dortmunder Export has far more of it than American lager. Dortmunder Export also leads on malt intensity, bitterness and sweetness.
Faults to watch for
- DMS — A cooked-vegetable note from a malt precursor that a vigorous open boil should have driven off.
- Diacetyl — A buttery compound with a very low threshold — normally a sign of rushed fermentation, but traditional at trace levels in some Czech lagers.
- Lightstrike — Light breaks down hop compounds into a thiol chemically close to skunk spray — the fastest fault in beer, and entirely preventable.
How it got here
Dortmund’s brewers served the Ruhr coalfield and steel industry, and built a beer between Munich’s malt and Pilsen’s bitterness: slightly stronger, firmer, and stable enough to travel, which is what "Export" recorded. The city’s hard, sulphate-rich water suited it.
The style contracted with the industry that drank it, and Dortmund is no longer the brewing centre the name implies.
How it is made
The steps that shape this style in particular, rather than the ones every beer goes through.
- Decoction mash — Raise a mash to its next temperature step by removing part of it, boiling that portion and returning it — the traditional continental method.
- Diacetyl rest — Raise a fermentation’s temperature near its end so the yeast reabsorbs and reduces the diacetyl it produced earlier.
- Lagering — Store beer cold for an extended period after fermentation to clarify it and produce the clean, rounded character lagers are named for.
Sensory levels are BeerHQ’s editorial abstraction, described as None–Very high on a six-point scale. Measurements are conventional style ranges. Last reviewed 2026-08-15.
Evidence
What BeerHQ knows about this, and how. Every statement carries the state of the evidence behind it rather than being presented flatly as fact.
On Decoction mash
Whether decoction mashing produces a malt character that a well-executed step mash with modern malt cannot is genuinely disputed within the trade.
— Many traditional brewers and a substantial body of brewing literature hold that boiling part of the mash develops melanoidin character that cannot be reproduced otherwise.
— Several breweries historically associated with decoction have moved to step mashing without their beers being widely reported as diminished, and blind comparisons have not established a consistent difference.
The practical justifications for decoction — hitting temperature steps without a thermometer, working with undermodified malt — have both disappeared. What remains contested is whether the flavour justification stands alone.
Genuinely contested Credible sources disagree, so both positions are given rather than one.
Sources: Technology Brewing and Malting — print; The Oxford Companion to Beer — print
On Diacetyl
The buttery or butterscotch character described as diacetyl is 2,3-butanedione, a vicinal diketone formed outside the yeast cell by oxidative decarboxylation of alpha-acetolactate.
Backed by a source
Sources: Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing, chapter on flavour — print; Brewing: Science and Practice — print
On Diacetyl
Diacetyl has one of the lowest flavour thresholds of any beer compound, detectable by many tasters at concentrations in the region of 0.1 mg/L or below, with substantial variation between individuals.
Backed by a source
Sources: Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing — print; Technology Brewing and Malting — print
On Diacetyl
A low level of diacetyl is traditional and accepted in some Czech pale lagers and in some Yorkshire and Scottish ales, where it contributes a rounded buttery softness the brewers are not attempting to remove.
Backed by a source
Sources: Tasting Beer (2nd edition) — print; The Oxford Companion to Beer — print
On Diacetyl rest
Raising a fermentation to 16–20 °C near its end accelerates yeast reuptake and reduction of diacetyl, which is slow at lager fermentation temperatures and is interrupted entirely if the beer is crashed cold too early.
Backed by a source
Sources: Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation — print; Technology Brewing and Malting — print
On Diacetyl
Diacetyl reaches beer by two unrelated routes: as a normal fermentation by-product that healthy yeast subsequently reabsorbs, or from bacterial contamination — chiefly Pediococcus — which produces it continuously and cannot be rested out.
Backed by a source
Sources: Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation — print; Brewing: Science and Practice — print
On DMS
A low level of DMS is accepted, and by some tasters expected, in pale lagers built on pilsner malt, and only reads as a defect when it dominates.
Backed by a source
Sources: BJCP Beer Style Guidelines (2021); Tasting Beer (2nd edition) — print
On DMS
Dimethyl sulphide is generated during wort heating from S-methylmethionine, a precursor formed during germination and progressively destroyed by kilning — which is why it is highest in lightly-kilned pilsner malt and negligible in darker malts.
Backed by a source
Sources: Brewing: Science and Practice — print; Technology Brewing and Malting — print
On DMS
DMS is volatile and leaves wort as vapour during a vigorous uncovered boil, which is why covering the kettle, boiling gently or cooling the wort slowly all raise the level in finished beer.
Backed by a source
Sources: How to Brew (4th edition) — print; Brewing: Science and Practice — print
On Hallertauer Mittelfrüh
Hallertauer Mittelfrüh’s susceptibility to wilt drove much of the Hüll breeding programme’s work on disease-resistant successors, which is why several modern German varieties are described in relation to it.
Backed by a source
Sources: Hop Research Center Hüll variety data; For the Love of Hops — print
On Pale lager
Lager denotes a fermentation and maturation process — cool fermentation with S. pastorianus followed by cold storage — rather than a colour, strength or flavour, which is why Schwarzbier, Rauchbier and Doppelbock are all lagers.
Backed by a source
Sources: BJCP Beer Style Guidelines (2021); Technology Brewing and Malting — print
On Lightstrike
Brown glass absorbs most of the wavelengths responsible for lightstrike, green and clear glass substantially do not, and aluminium cans exclude light entirely.
Backed by a source
Sources: Brewing: Science and Practice — print; Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing — print
On Lightstrike
Lightstrike occurs when ultraviolet and short-wavelength visible light photolyse hop-derived iso-alpha-acids, producing a radical that reacts with a sulphur source to form 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol.
Backed by a source
Sources: Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing — print; Journal of the Institute of Brewing
On Lightstrike
Chemically modified hop extracts — reduced iso-alpha-acids — cannot form the responsible thiol, which is how some widely-sold lagers are packaged in clear glass without skunking.
Backed by a source
Sources: Brewing: Science and Practice — print; For the Love of Hops — print
On Lightstrike
Lightstrike is a photochemical reaction independent of a beer’s age: a newly-packaged bottle left in sunlight will skunk within minutes, and a five-year-old can never will.
Backed by a source
Source: Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing — print
On Lightstrike
3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol is structurally close to compounds in skunk defensive secretion and is perceptible at concentrations in the parts-per-trillion range, which is why lightstruck beer is recognised instantly.
Backed by a source
Source: Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing — print
On Lagering
Carl von Linde’s mechanical refrigeration, first installed in a brewery in the early 1870s, freed lager production from dependence on natural ice and cold cellars.
Backed by a source
Sources: Beer: The Story of the Pint — print; The Oxford Companion to Beer — print
On Lagering
Mechanical refrigeration from the late nineteenth century removed lager brewing’s dependence on cold cellars and natural ice, allowing it to be produced year-round and anywhere.
Backed by a source
Sources: Beer: The Story of the Pint — print; The Oxford Companion to Beer — print
On Pale lager
BeerHQ’s 0–5 sensory bands are an editorial abstraction for comparison and discovery, not a measurement, an industry standard or a laboratory reading, and are stored separately from formal style measurements so the two can never be confused.
BeerHQ’s own reading