Black Lager
Junction Craft Brewing

Look: Dark brown with hint of light coming through at the bottom of the glass. Coca Cola coloured. One and half fingers of dense tan foam. Great head retention.
Smell: Sweat. Caramel, and toffee. Roasted coffee, dark chocolate
Taste: Dry and crisp. Coffee, molasses, and chard meats. Very strong forward tastes. Enjoyable and flavourful.
Feel: Slightly chalky. Fills your whole mouth. Plays on the entire tongue and palate, but in a heavy handed way.
Very refreshing and a stong unique flavour. My only qualm is that the flavour profile, which is great, is missing complexity. It hits you over the head with it's one strong trick right off the bat, but doesn't change or mellow on the back end. Still this beers earns a strong A-

 

 

473 mL can from the LCBO; best before Dec 30 2017 and served barely chilled.

Pours a deep, dark brownish-black colour with ruddy red highlights, fitted with an inch-thick crown of puffy, tan-coloured head. Retention is fantastic - even after ten minutes' time, it has only barely begun to wilt, requiring ten more minutes on top of that to recede down to a smooth, creamy cap, complete with a thick, foamy collar and an opulent coat of uneven lace. The aroma is malt-forward and relatively fragrant, at least by dark lager standards - I can detect some molasses and caramelized sugars, as well as some black coffee, dark chocolate and bready, toasted malts. Perhaps even a hint of woodsmoke, but that may just be my imagination.

This is a delicious, rich-tasting schwarzbier. From the sound of the starting gun, molasses, toasted bread and dark chocolate flavours bombard the taste buds, accompanied by minor notes of coffee. The back end trends increasingly roasty, with mild-to-moderate hop bitterness that I'd characterize as earthy and a tad dirty, with some slightly leafy, floral qualities at the finish. The aftertaste is more malt-driven, with more of a roasty-sweet, milk chocolate sort of flavour that briefly lingers. Medium in body, leaning towards full - this dark lager has a soft, smooth, somewhat slick texture, with rather low carbonation levels. Easy enough to toss back, though its full flavour and (marginally) higher abv make it a little less sessionable than, say, Köstritzer (or most of the Ontario-made schwarzbiers I've tried, for that matter) - not exactly a major problem, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Final Grade: 4.02, an A-. Junction Road Black Lager is probably the best Junction beer I've tried to date, and I'd argue that it's in the running for the best Ontario schwarz/dark lager overall. A tasty brew that was simply a pleasure to drink, this is something that I fully intend to return to in the future. Well worth a shot, particularly if you're already a fan of dark lagers, porters and the like.

 

473 ml can served cold into a St. Pauli Girl glass mug. Purchased from the LCBO for around $3 CDN.

Appearance - Very dark brown, near black with a massive multi finger tan head following an aggressive pour. Good retention and some lacing streaks linger around the edges of the glass.

Smell - Fairly roasty with subtle inklings of dark chocolate although the roasty malt dominates.

Taste - Pretty solid here to with roasty malts, bits of dark chocolate and possibly some vanilla in there. A touch sweeter than many in the style.

Mouthfeel - Medium bodied, moderately carbonated and a medium finish that is less dry than most beers.

Overall - A serviceable and pretty tasty black lager that I can see myself enjoying semi-regularly. A welcome addition to the lineup.

 

 

500mL bottle bought at the brewery, pours almost black with a tall tan head which fades moderately slowly. Aroma of burnt chocolate & bready grain. Taste follows with some nice smooth breadiness but not quite as full of a mouthfeel as I'd like. It was a nice drink, but I don't expect to go looking for it again.