La Schwortz
Matten

A good Alsatian beer, highlight the choice of water, a beer honest style french but not strictly a product made to enjoy in a universe full of beer Alsace too low quality products.

 

Beer bottle (33 cl.) purchased from Bières & Chopes, and tasted in 2013.

Appearance : dark color, with huge tan foamy head and nice lacing.
Smell : roasted malt and dark chocolate aromas.
Taste & mouthfeel : roasted and coffee flavors, with dry bitter finish.
Drinkability : a good beer in the style Stout.

33 cl bottle poured into a goblet.

Pours a dark brown (not black) with a very thick, full head. Due to the lighter hue, the pour looks nothing like a stout, though it does look appealing.

Nose is full and wonderful. Malts, chocolate, cherry, caramel, faint hop aromas, and lots of fruit.

This is one funky stout, quite unlike any other I've had. Malty, with pepper, almond, cinnamon, coffee, cherries, and slight tastes of postage stamp and peppermint, this doesn't taste anything like a stout until the finish which is full of roasted coffee notes. There is a slight sourness to it, as well as an almost Belgian quality - do they use Belgian yeasts, I wonder?

Overall not what I expected in a stout, but a very unique offering. Lighter than a typical stout (despite the "Biere noire" label!), it's more like a light porter. Kudos to the brewer for working outside the expectations.