Enigma Black Lager
Grand River Brewing

500 mL bottle picked up at the brewery last month; bottled Feb 9 2016 and served at cellar temperature. "Imported by Esber Beverage Co., Canton OH" on the label - nice to see GRB expanding its horizons, so to speak.

Pours a deep, translucent copper-brown colour, topped off with one finger of creamy, off white-coloured head that dissipates within the next 60 seconds or so. A foamy collar is the main remnant, with only a few scattered patches of lacing left behind as an accompaniment. Subtle aroma that doesn't have much going on at all, really - there's caramel, maybe a hint of coffee and nuts, with some lightly toasted, bready malt sweetness rounding things out. Kinda dull, but that's par for the course with this style.

Tastes fine, but that's the most effusive compliment I can muster up. The flavour profile is generally malt forward, with the reins initially being held by notes of dark bread, caramel, plum and some toasted nuts. Seems a little roastier than most of the dark lagers I've had - hints of coffee come through on the back end, giving it a pleasantly roasty, mild astringency that carries through into the aftertaste. Vaguely earthy and/or herbal. On the lighter side of medium-bodied, with relatively low carbonation levels that result in a soft, smooth mouthfeel. The alcohol is hidden well, but overall this is a fairly boring tipple.

Final Grade: 3.47, a B-. Enigma Black Lager is easy enough to drink, but like most of the beers that get lumped into this paraphyletic pseudo-style, it's not something that I'd actively seek out again in the future. Nothing about this beer really stands out to me, besides perhaps its inherent inoffensiveness. Sort of like a Munich Dunkel crossed with a porter; all in all it's an underwhelming experience. Not bad, but I'd rather be drinking Mill Race Mild.

 

 

Enigma Black Lager has a pretty ugly label, but the beer itself looks fairly impressive; despite its dark, blackish complexion it sustains colourful slivers of chestnut highlighting and even bouts of clarity if held right into the light. Its head is also impressively sustained (not only on the surface but splattered about the glass too).

Likening any smell to an ashtray is never a good thing; the bakers chocolate and fudge notes have a fairly strong presence but are not quite sufficient enough to mask that notion of smoke. Either way, it's still not quite right for a Black Lager (Schwarzbier); rich cocoa notes are better left for stouts and while hints of roast are expected nothing should be noticeably burnt or smoky.

I had hoped the palate would set everything right, but the first sip revealed a noticeably sour character to the beer (likely an unintended off note from fermentation). It loosely resembles the kind of lactose tang one should anticipate from a milk stout. It's hardly the kind of clean, rich maltiness one would find in examples from southern Thuringen or northern Franconia.

That curdled milk/fresh yogurt quality and the sizable posse of fruity esters are hard to look past, the rather pleasant roasted barley and nutty caramel hints notwithstanding. There's enough flavour to rule out dumping the rest. Far from it, this isn't a bad beer by any stretch of the imagination - just an improper example of the style with a few quality control issues to iron out.

I've always felt that Grand River's strength was in English style ales, hence I thought it a bit odd that they attempt a German dark lager (though, to be fair, my favourite offering of theirs is hands down the Hannenberg Pils). The resulting beer, unfortunately, validated my skepticism. The real enigma is why they released this in the first place - there's obviously issues to address here.

500ml bottle from the brewery. $ 3.95 Served in a pint glass.

A- Dark black with brown hues, thin layer of off white foam and a thicker layer around the glass. Carbonation noticeable. Good retention.

S- Roasted barley, coffee, brown sugar, touch of black licorice.

T- Nice and malty with flavors of dark roasted malts, regular roast coffee, roasted almonds, just a hint of chocolate liquor, and a light dusting of earthy hops in a roasty/slightly bitter/somewhat sour finish. The mineral characteristics of the water used are also present.

M- medium bodied, fairly slick and clean.

D- flavorful and drinkable.

Overall a nice Black Lager. Good for the fall months. Should be a mainstay IMO. Nice having one of these and a couple Mill Race Milds as well. Good brew and just when i was starting to have some doubts about this brewery. The fabulous pumpkin ale will be out soon!