Dark Lager
Tofino Brewing Company

 

Tofino Brewing 'Dark Lager' @ 4.5% , served from a 473 ml can
A-pour is a cola brown from the can to almost black in the glass with a small size beige head leaving a spotty lace ring along the pokal
S-roasted malts
T-clean & crisp Schwarzbier (dark German lager) slight dry finish
MF-ok carbonation , medium body
Ov-enjoyable brew
prost LampertLand

Serving: 650 ml bottle poured into a small beer tulip.

Appearance: Deep, clear, dark brown with a frothy head of tan foam and modest lacing.

Smell: Full bodied, roasted malt aroma, balancing bitter and sweet, with hints of coffee and cocoa.

Taste: Deep, roasted grain notes that recede to a lighter, malty lager base.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium body with moderate carbonation.

Overall: Very drinkable lager with rich, roasted malt notes.

 

 

 

 

650ml bottle - very stark label imagery on this one, I gotta say - like yer on the far geographical end of a continent, or something, right?

This beer pours a clear, very dark brown colour, with somewhat loose basal orange cola edges, and three fingers of puffy, rocky, and chunky tan head, which leaves some stocky and streaky lace around the glass as it evenly subsides.

It smells of gritty and grainy pale malt, a bit of free-range toastiness, some indeterminate cocoa notes, ephemeral biscuity caramel, a weak earthy yeastiness, and some very understated leafy, weedy, and dead floral green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, some mild free-agent ashiness, wan bittersweet chocolate, not so subtle cafe-au-lait, now dead-seeming yeast, and some rather peppy earthy, leafy, and grassy verdant hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite plain in its plebeian frothiness, the body a so-so medium weight, and generally smooth, with a surprisingly relevant creaminess arising just when the ambient temperatures decide to make things a bit more amenable, as it were. It finishes off-dry, the cocoa and generic graininess not really making an issue of it.

Overall, this is a typical version of the style, with a nice roasted component, and some well off-setting cocoa and caramel notes. Not the most complicated or complex iteration that I've yet come across, but worthy enough of introspection if one is into the idea of this as a worthwhile pursuit in the first place.