Dortmunder Export is a beer style that was created in Dortmund in the nineteenth century specifically for long-distance shipping — hence the name. At the peak of the city's brewing industry in the early twentieth century, Dortmund produced more beer than any other city in Germany, and the Export style was shipped across Europe and to the German diaspora in South America and the United States. The style is a pale lager, stronger than a standard German Pilsner (around 5.2–5.5% ABV), with a full malt body and only moderate bitterness.
Today the main surviving breweries producing the style are DAB (Dortmunder Actien Brauerei), Kronen, and Brinkhoff's No. 1. All three are available on tap throughout the city. The best way to drink Dortmunder Export is the traditional one: a 0.4-litre Stange glass, freshly drawn, in one of the old Gaststätten around the city centre. The Zum Alten Markt on the Alter Markt and the Hövels Hausbrauerei on Hoher Wall — Dortmund's own microbrewery — are reliable choices.