Shiner Bohemian Black Lager
Spoetzl Brewery

Refreshing, but about what I would expect from a lager. Tastes like a better version of Negra Modelo. At first the drink is malty but the roasted taste comes a little bit after and in a way that complements the light character of the beer.

This is an excellent example of a black lager. A little bit of coffee, black licorice, and malt flavor..... It's the king of the Shiner line. Not heavy and very drinkable. I just wish it was as widely available as their very overrated Bock.

 

 

Pours a reddish black with a quickly dissipating head, leaves no lacing. Smell is that of weak coffee. Taste follows the nose, which isn't much. Weak coffee, weak roast, and a mineral like quality. Hops are nearly nonexistent. Watery and flat is an understatement. Maybe an old bottle, no date code to be found. Glad I only purchased a single.

 

 

Pours a very pretty brownish black that has hints of red to it when you hold it up to some light. It smells like darker pumpernickel bread with very subtle hints of coffee and chocolate. The taste has that same dark bread start with a very mild coffee like bitter finish. It goes down smoothly but has a surprisingly thin mouth feel. Overall a very easy to drink dark beer and pretty decent.

 

 

 

 

12oz bottle poured into wine glass. Picked up as part of a $15 Shiner variety pack from the grocery store during the COVID-19 pandemic. No discernible date anywhere on the bottle.

Appearance - Apparently opaque black, but on backlight you can see it's clear with a deep mahogany hue. Tan pancake batter head with good retention and no lacing. 4

Smell - Very faint toasted coffee bean that becomes considerably more prominent as the beer warms. Maybe hints of chocolate. 4

Taste - Toasted coffee. 4.25

Mouthfeel - Has astringency but surprisingly little considering the style. Maybe a little thinner and more watery than what I'd expect. But pretty clean and almost refreshing, considering the style. 4.25

Overall - Pretty inoffensive and drinkable for the style. Probably it's greatest quality is the lack of off characters. 4.25

L: 3.25 amberish brown. A bit light for this style. Good carbonation with a small light tan head.
S: 3.5 smells like your average black lager. Licorice. Dark malts.
T: 3.5 Licorice. Caramel. A touch of cacao.
F: 3.5 Pretty nice. Medium bodied. Goes down easier than most dark beers.
O: 3.5 A middle of the pack dark lager.

 

Poured this beer from a bottle into a pint glass. The color of this beer is straight-up black with a faint reddish undertone. The smell of the beer is a tad confusing in comparison to how good it tastes, I'm definitely picking up some smoky/malty notes with a hint of coffee. There is a bit of an empty beer bottle set out in the sun smell to it for some reason though? The taste of this beer is pretty malty as expected, it's slightly sweet, but not to much. The faint aftertaste of coffee is one of my favorite things about it. The feel is much more carbonated than expected, yet light, goes down smooth. Overall, this is a very approachable dark beer, I'd like it more if it had a slightly higher ABV.

This is one of the smoothest really dark beers that I have ever quaffed. Literally nearly black in color, it has great flavor with absolutely no bitter aftertaste.

Poured from a 12 oz bottle:

Pours black, but not pitch black. Head is light tan and thin (maybe 1/4 inch), but it lasts a while with good retention.

Smells mainly of malts and black licorice. There’s a bit of coffee and a toasty quality in there as well. It’s not a powerful smell but it’s more complex than I previously gave it credit for.

Taste is more robust than I was expecting given the smell. The hops bring a brightness up front and then give way to the sweetness of the malts. It has a good bit of an earthy quality thanks to the coffee, which I found pleasant. Finish is somewhat long, earthy, and malty.

Feel is surprisingly light. The carbonation is strong which lightens up the body. It’s easy on the stomach as well, which could be the doing of the low ABV.

Overall, pretty good and a step above the Shiner Bock for me. For me, everything just needs to be “more” or “bigger” to get closer to the black lagers I tasted in Prague a few years ago, but great for something inexpensive and readily available most anywhere in the Midwestern US.

Edit: I came back to this one today (11/24/2020) and reread my review, and I felt that my previous comments were slightly inaccurate. I moved everything up .25, except for look which I moved up .5, and I changed some of my comments to make sure they were a better representation of the beer and aligned with my palate at this time. I think I interviewed this one months ago and my palate has vastly improved since then.

 

the country goth metalhead to Shiner's kicker standby good-boy.

Jet black. Caramel head. Smooooth with limited bitter. Mild aftertaste. GFB.

 

 

Appearance - The beer looked like a handsome black lager with visible carbonation and a light tan colored head.

Smell - The nose seemed faint, mostly composed of watered down black licorice.

Taste - If there was such a thing as a light schwarzbier, this would be it. The profile was lightly malty with a slight level of acidity. There are also notes a acidity with a slight sense of sweetness. The beer finishes with dry malts.

Mouthfeel - Carbonation is duly noted with a very thin feel.

Overall - This is not the best example of the style. For starters, it needs more of everything. Taste will then improve.

Look: Very dark reddish/brown, clear, with a substantial light tan head.
Smell: Rather weak, some weak caramel malts and not much else.
Taste: Light caramel, roasted coffee, some light smoke (very light).
Mouthfeel: Mostly light, mostly dry. Very drinkable.
I haven’t had many of this style but it’s as good as the imports that I’ve had, in its own way. I really enjoyed the coffee notes in the finish.

Deep, dark brown body; nice carbonation; thick and creamy head. Faint aroma, generally malty with a bare suggestion of roasted grain and chocolate. Watery, roasted grain flavor; faint caramel; decent hop bitterness at the finish. Medium-light body; a little fizz at the finish of each sip; rather watery; malt grain warmth develops at the finish.

The beer's best feature is its looks. Otherwise, while not a total washout, the beer comes across rather thin and weak where it counts -- the smell and taste. It gets a bit better as it warms up, yet doesn't escape the mundane.

 

 

From the bottle, it pours a clear very dark brown with a nice thick light tan head that slowly dissipates and leaves lacing. In the nose, it is roasted malts - in the mouth, it is the same.

 

The pour is hickory brown. The aroma is of whole wheat bread & dark roasted malts. The taste matches the aroma along with a slight prune presence on the backend. Cheers! B-

 

 

 

 

This pours a dark brown without much of a head and the nose is roasted dark malt and cocoa. Flavor is similar with a cleanfinish and low carbonation. A little understated and nothing special, but I like schwarzbier, and this is a serviceable example of the style that is generally easy to find.

From a bottle, pours as a dark almost opaque brown with a think tan quickly dispersing head. The aroma is of roasted malt with caramel. For a lager, it's pretty OK; malt-forward sweetness with a hops-bitter bite at the end. I've read some other reviews, but I don't taste any "chocolate", "caramel", or "coffee". I did find a metallic aftertaste and an overall wateriness. Overall, better than Bud, but nothing that I'd give a guest.

 

 

1/2" beige head on a dark brown Schwarzbier. Head recedes and holds at a cap the whole way.
Chalky cocoa and roasted malts. Some feed store grain. Dark fruit.
Lightly bitter roasted malt, semi-sweet chocolate. Tree nut (??). Cola.
Medium body, medium carbonation. Thin. Nothing extraordinary here.
Finish has some length but not necessarily the depth that would move this up the radar.