Granát (BrouCzech Dark)
Nova Paka Brewery

A: crystal clear; color is cola brown with ruby highlights; a 1 finger finely pored light brown head that receded to a wispy cap with a moderate tight collar; very little lacing;

S: sweet malt and a bit of milk chocolate;

T: moderately toasted grain and malt sweetness from start to finish; very mild bitterness at the end;

M: medium bodied; moderate carbonation; moderately dry finish;

O: a great food beer;

16.9oz bottle. No dating information found.
Amber brown colored body. Two fingers of light tan colored head retreat after the pour to a full cap. Leaves behind spots and partial rings of lacing.
Aroma of molasses, spice, and a some dark fruit.
Taste is lightly roasted malts, with flavors of caramel, prune, raisin, and some spice. Aftertaste lingers with the sweet malts.
Medium mouthfeel. Slight metallic note. Overall bitterness is low, even with the malts that are roasted. Very good carbonation.
Pleasingly sweet, along with the caramel and fruit roastiness.

Brown color with a nice beige head. Aroma of roasted caramel and grass. Taste is caramel, malty with notes of fruits, and moderate bitterness. Decent Czech beer.

On tap at Burp Palace in Manhattan, NY.

This one pours a golden brown color, with a small head, and lots of lacing.

This smells pretty bready, with some nice light chocolatey character.

There’s a touch of fruity esters on the palate, nothing all that aggressive, with some nice chocolate and roastiness to it. There’s a touch of slightly spicy and herbal hop character too.

This is lighter bodied, maybe slightly thin, but creamy on the finish in a nice way. It’s very drinkable.

I’d never heard of this one before, but I’d basically drink anything in the confines of the Burp Palace.

No bottling date

This is a true Czech Dark Lager from a Czech brewery I’ve never heard of, albeit with rather low ratings. This maybe be the lowest average I’ve seen on BA for the style but I’m not gonna let that get in my way, I’m sure it’ll still be solid. Let’s get into it

Pours a clear deep mahogany brown with 2 fingers of frothy light tan head that slowly fades to a thin cap and leaves decent lacing

There’s definitely a lot of fruity esters in the nose not typical of the style but I dig it. I’m picking up on aromas of dates, brown bread, brown sugar, black tea, raisin, toffee, light herbal hops, and cocoa powder

It’s more true-to-style in taste, which is good because a 1:1 translation of the aroma might have made for an overly sweet beer. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting dark toast, black cherry, black tea, cocoa powder, light roast coffee, light brown sugar, and burnt caramel. The swallow brings notes of biscuity malt, boack tea, medium roast coffee, molasses, black cherry, burnt toast, raisin, and light herbal hops

A medium body pairs with gentle carbonation, resulting in a smooth beer. Finishes bone dry and refreshing

Sure it’s a little weird and not perfect for a CDL, but it’s damn solid for what it is

Poured dark brown with a hint of red and was crowned with a 2 cm beige head that left reasonable lacing.
The taste surprised me a little with almost a hops forward impression, but as I got into it a little the hops were pronounced at the swallow and I’m guessing roasted malts give the initial bitterness. Either way, the second part of this was much better (yeah, my opinion) than the first. Guessing the bitter just came to terms with my taste buds and relaxed a bit. Ended up wishing there was more.
The feel is light and almost crisp, hard to imagine they got it like this with all the flavor crammed in.
OA, if I find this again I’ll definitely buy more, very flavorful and very tasty.

 

 

 

 

Poured into a Reuben's Brew pint glass. Pours a very dark mahogany brown with little light transmission in the glass and a two finger, somewhat fizzy, dark khaki head that dissipates to a thin film with light lacing. Aroma of dark malt, light molasses, brown bread and a hint of caramel. Flavor is dark, lightly toasted malt, brown bread, hints of cocoa and molasses with mild noble hops that increase in bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. A satisfactory Czech dark lager that has a bit more roasted malt character than I expected, but a bit of hop astringency in the finish. The malt is nice and is somewhat akin to a schwarzbier, to its credit. The hops are left a little stark in the finish, which could be an age issue as imports are often hard to date adequately. An adequate example of of a scarce style, but need a little balance.

 

Picked up a .5 liter bottle for the Dark Lager tasting. Poured into my tall Becher.

L -- Deep, dark brown with ruby highlights and a short, but resilient, cream color head.

S -- Roasted malt, light caramel and light vanilla.

T -- Roasted malt up front, but not Schwarzbier-like. Light touch of dark fruits, Pumpernickel bread crusts, touch of earthy & herbal hop bitterness in the finish and some light diacetyl in the aftertaste.

M -- Mouthfeel is soft and silky with a light-robust body.

O -- Not as roasty as some CDLs I've had, a touch sweet to balance out the roasted malts and hop bitterness. Very tasty -- should have bought a couple!

Shared 500 ml bottle, from Donslund Vine, as Novopacké pivo Granát, at local tasting. ABV is 5.0%. Dark reddish brown colour, moderate off-white head. Aroma of caramel malts and brown bread. Nice flavour, not too sweet, malty and mildly roasty notes, dark brown bread, chocolate and a hint of mild coffee. Very drinkable.

great european lager nice light malt taste

 

30 Mayo 2021. De Labirratorium. En copa de hefe de Bavaria. En almuerzo, con pastas rana. Esta bien, pero me resulta más seca e insipida de lo deseable. Avg 3.06

27 enero 2022. De Labirratorium. En copa hefe de Bavaria. Estudiando. Lager oscura bien hecha, con buen feel y agradable perfil tostado. Nada de la sequedad e insipidez de la anterior vez que la prob3. No obstante, tampoco tiene nada que la haga sobresalir. Avg 3.5

I found this Granat at a Polish specialty grocery store that gave a nod to other central European brewers. To start, my generalization... Czech crafters have one of the highest quality that never make it to the Midwest. But what made me think this thought is that the book I organized my life around in 2014 and 2015, "1001 Beers To Drink Before You Die", I had only 10 of the 48 Czech crafters, or less than 20%. (In this book, only Belgium had more per capita and I'd had 80% of the Belgians.) For the whole book, I drank 52%. So clearly, the Czech's have a distribution problem in the Midwest.

All that said... BrouCzech Dark opens slightly above average; dark and a lasting foam. Smells are mostly malt (which I like.) Tastes are balanced with caramel malts, some toasted; and sufficient hops to bring out a semi-dry finish. OK bubbles resulting in a below medium mouth.

I went on the Nova Paka website and did find the English button and could read through much of it. It reminds me of many pre-industrial era Bavarian family crafters in their attention to detail and tradition and, of course, lagers. Brews, restaurant, cultural pride; but with a slightly different welcoming feel.

5/6/21 Had a second and also found it satisfying. Edited the above and am keeping count at UnTappd.

There is no date on the bottle. The pour is dark brown. The taste is medium mouth feel, brown bread crust, mild dark fruit & molasses. Cheers! B-