Samichlaus Schwarzes
Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg

Samichlaus SchwarzesSamichlaus Schwarzes
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From:
Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg
 
Austria
Style:
Schwarzbier
Ranked #2
ABV:
14%
Score:
93
Ranked #3,817
Avg:
4.19 | pDev: 9.79%
Reviews:
45
Ratings:
103
Status:
Active
Rated:
Jan 01, 2024
Added:
Aug 10, 2014
Wants:
  22
Gots:
  16
The newest edition to the Samichlaus line up is a Schwarzbier. Also brewed on December 6th, and aged for 10 months, Schwarzbier means “black beer” in German. It has flavors of spicy rye, dark oak and subtle smoke that balances quite nicely with more bittering and aroma hops than in prior versions of Samichlasus. Bittersweet and complexity is what this new amazing recipe is all about.
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Ratings by LiquidAmber:
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Reviewed by LiquidAmber from Washington

4.06/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a dark, hazy red-orange with only a hint of carbonation leaving a stringy bead of bubbles around the glass, no lacing. Aroma is dark stone fruit, caramel malt, candied dried druit, very boozy alcohol. Flavor is caramel malt with a hint of toasted malt, fresh dark stone fruit; plums and cherry, hints of dark dried fruit, vanilla, almond; sweet and almost fruit cake sweet fruit rumminess. Medium bodied with light creaminess, a bit slick. A dark, fruit forwad dessert ale, most resembling a sweet barleywine, but not with the same malt and flavor profile; almost a cross between a barleywine and an apertif. Although sweet and a bit boozy (the overt alcohol in the aroma is well covered in the taste, but still potent), the flavors are nicely balanced and this is neither cloying nor hot. Reminiscent of a fortified wine,but with pleasant carbonation and balanced with sweet malt. Interesting and flavorful. This seemed to me to skate on the edge of being too powerful and sweet, but they really pulled off the flavors. The only odd part is that the Schwarz part is mostly masked by the other flavors; only a hint of toasted malts here. I liked this as an alternative to a barleywine and would certainly have this again as a dessert ale. The appearance is not that great and the aroma is too alcohol forward, but once drinking this, it all comes together as much greater than its parts. Interesting and unique.
Mar 25, 2015
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 4.25 by AngusOg from North Carolina

Jan 01, 2024
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Reviewed by Silopanna63 from Maryland

4.58/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
A very nice lagered barleywine. I get dried plums, dates, and a hint of fennel. It’s slightly less sweet than its “Classic” cousin but fully malt forward nonetheless. I like it as is but would love to try one with more bittering hops, not unlike the way European Pilsners are hopped…That said, what a nice winter treat.
Dec 09, 2023
 
Rated: 4.65 by igl from Russian Federation

Nov 20, 2023
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Reviewed by MikeWard from Pennsylvania

4.3/5  rDev +2.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
330ml bottle into a goblet. 2016 release, so 7 years old.

Black body with a brief off white head. Massive dark fruit aroma with dark rum booziness. Fruit less in the taste, but still present. Finish very warming with a fleeting roast note. Quality sipper.
Jul 31, 2023
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Reviewed by EmperorBevis from England

4.43/5  rDev +5.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
Bottled, poured like bottle conditioned just in case and purchased from The Epicurean in West Didsbury
Pours a jet black body with minimal tan head
Aroma is Pontefract cakes
Flavour is the darkest rum
Mar 23, 2023
Photo of GuyFawkes
Reviewed by GuyFawkes from Illinois

4.31/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
2016 vintage; drank 2/16/23 @ the Yarchives.

Black/brown appearance.

An even pour yielded a minimal tan head; almost no lace.

Medium roast coffee bean, cream, sarsaparilla & library book notes in the nose.

Creamy medium mouthfeel.

Cream, caramel, medium roast coffee bean, faint library book.

Unique & tasty!
Feb 17, 2023
 
Rated: 4.2 by oberon from North Carolina

Jan 12, 2023
Photo of zeff80
Reviewed by zeff80 from Missouri

3.86/5  rDev -7.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
11.2oz bottle. Poured out an opaque, jet-black color with a small, light khaki-colored head of foam. It left sudsy trails of lace on the glass. It smelled of toffee, caramel, roasted malt and booziness. Sweet toffee and caramel taste. very boozy. Little bitterness.
Dec 31, 2022
 
Rated: 4.19 by cozmo from New York

Dec 18, 2022
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Reviewed by jzeilinger from Pennsylvania

4.03/5  rDev -3.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
2022 Vintage

A - Deep garnet burgundy colored pour with perfect clarity, no carbonation, and no lacing.

S - Light spiciness, sweet sticky malt, and some delicate smokiness.

T - Toasted toffee caramel malt, light spiciness, a littl bit of woody oak, and big alcohol presence.

M - Light syrupy and silky smooth texture with alcohol permeating up into the sinuses and warming in the back of the throat.

O - The alcohol gets in the way of this beer.
Dec 11, 2022
 
Rated: 4.11 by samEBC from Belgium

Jul 09, 2022
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Reviewed by cheeseheadinMinneapolis from Wisconsin

4.04/5  rDev -3.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
11.2oz bottle 2016 vintage
tasting good but I wonder if this is a drink now, don't hold
smooth, lots a dark fruit (fig), a little chocolate, oak, a hint of a red wine flavor, cherry, sherry, micro hint of roast on the finish. slightly sweet over all
4.11/5 today
is this beer really a barleywine?
Jun 11, 2022
 
Rated: 3.85 by TMoney2591 from Illinois

Feb 21, 2022
Photo of Ozzylizard
Reviewed by Ozzylizard from Pennsylvania

3.88/5  rDev -7.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Samichlaus Schwarzes from Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg. 11.2 oz bottle purchased from Shangy’s (18/9/21), Emmaus, PA. $ 5.82 (including tax) ($0.520/oz). Imported by Wetten Importers. Stored at room temperature in store and at 40 degrees after purchase. Reviewed 30/12/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated bottle. Served at 48.0 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 53.7 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Amber Brown (SRM 18), hazy.
Body – Brown (SRM 20), muddy and opaque. When rear-lite, some light penetration at the edges, olive. Moderate effervescence. Big lumps precipitate.
Head – Small (Maximum one cm, aggressive center pour), wheat, poor retention, diminishing to a zero to two mm broken ring of bubbles fed by moderate carbonation and no cap.
Lacing – None. As expected at 14% ABV.
Aroma – 3.5 – Dark fruit, oily. No hops, no yeast.
Flavor – 4.25 – Dark fruit (mostly raisins), chocolatey, a hint of char. No hops, no yeast. No ethanol (14.0 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. A transitory gastric warming occurs. Lightly sweet but far from cloying. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, between oily and lightly syrupy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.75 (After deducting 0.25 point for no date) Not bad overall – at the higher end of the temperature range, the alcohol becomes painfully apparent in both flavor and gastric burning, so don’t sip too slowly.
Dec 30, 2021
 
Rated: 4.13 by Skabiski from Maryland

Jul 03, 2021
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Reviewed by BEERMILER12 from Maine

4.21/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Vintage 2016

A: Pours a deep brown color with 2 fingers of head that quickly fades down to a thin cap

S: Sweet malt, dried dark fruit (mostly fig), cocoa, and booze

T: Follows the nose. Starts off with a mix of dried fruit, sweet caramel malt, and some booze. Picks up the cocoa and more dark fruit. Finishes with lingering dark fruit and booze

M: Medium bodied with low-moderate carbonation. A bit on the thin side

O: A great sipper that has a huge malt presence despite the rather thin body (acceptable given the abv). Worth checking out
Jan 21, 2021
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Reviewed by ryan1788a5 from Massachusetts

3.84/5  rDev -8.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
11.2oz bottle poured into a snifter. 2014 vintage.

A: Black pour, half a finger of beige head that dissipates as soon as it forms. No lacing.

S: Fairly quiet nose. Just some blackstrap molasses and whiffs of light soot. Vague fruit skins too.

T: Treacle and molasses sweetness. Burnt crust, toasted malt, and very faintly sooty. Bit of bakers chocolate and roasty coffee. Brush of warming alcohol. Sherry oxidation eventually comes out. Vague fruit skins. Very sweet overall. Slot and smoke embedded within molasses sweetness on a long finish.

M: Big bodied, sticky, coating, and syrupy. Soothing alcohol warmth. Barely-there carbonation.

O: Not as complex as the classic. Similarly cordial-like, but this one has a bit more dark malt character and the alcohol is less apparent. Nose is curiously muted too. Solid as an after dinner sipper.
Dec 25, 2020
 
Rated: 4.05 by Daniellobo from District of Columbia

Dec 20, 2020
 
Rated: 4.21 by beaulabauve from Louisiana

Dec 19, 2020
Samichlaus Schwarzes from Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg
Beer rating: 93 out of 100 with 103 ratings