diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index bc3e2a80a..1b77a45e0 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1764,6 +1764,9 @@ AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(SCDAEMON_SOCK_NAME, "S.scdaemon",
                    [The name of the SCdaemon socket])
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(DIRMNGR_SOCK_NAME, "S.dirmngr",
                    [The name of the dirmngr socket])
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(DIRMNGR_DEFAULT_KEYSERVER,
+                   "hkps://hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net",
+      [The default keyserver for dirmngr to use, if none is explicitly given])
 
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(GPGEXT_GPG, "gpg", [The standard binary file suffix])
 
diff --git a/dirmngr/server.c b/dirmngr/server.c
index 5c78d64c3..008849823 100644
--- a/dirmngr/server.c
+++ b/dirmngr/server.c
@@ -1810,7 +1810,11 @@ ensure_keyserver (ctrl_t ctrl)
   if (ctrl->server_local->keyservers)
     return 0; /* Already set for this session.  */
   if (!opt.keyserver)
-    return 0; /* No global option set.  */
+    {
+      /* No global option set.  Fall back to default:  */
+      return make_keyserver_item (DIRMNGR_DEFAULT_KEYSERVER,
+                                  &ctrl->server_local->keyservers);
+    }
 
   for (sl = opt.keyserver; sl; sl = sl->next)
     {
diff --git a/doc/dirmngr.texi b/doc/dirmngr.texi
index bc3072ce8..be4e97ab7 100644
--- a/doc/dirmngr.texi
+++ b/doc/dirmngr.texi
@@ -277,6 +277,8 @@ service (.onion), Dirmngr selects the keyserver to use depending on
 whether Tor is locally running or not.  The check for a running Tor is
 done for each new connection.
 
+If no keyserver is explicitly configured, dirmngr will use the
+built-in default of hkps://hkps.pool.sks-keyservers.net.
 
 @item --nameserver @var{ipaddr}
 @opindex nameserver