Budweiser Reserve Black Lager
Anheuser-Busch

Straightforward review. Pours a deep dark brown color with a semi-foamy cream-coloured head. Looks like root beer. Carbonated with low bitterness. Toasty malts and prune accentuate the aroma while malt and caramel are predominant in the flavour. Looks intimidating but goes down like a kitty.

 

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass. Pours pitch black with a small light brown head. Smells of dark roasted grain, nice and inviting. Tastes of dark roasted grain with slight bourbon. Beer is light bodied and easy drinking, good carbonation. Overall, a good beer.

Bottle from Total Wine. Never see the Bud variants as singles in Idaho. Dark, clear brown with a nice fluffy tan head. Nice roasty aroma, slightly burnt. Taste also features some nice dark malts, woody, with a little bourbon barrel edge. Quite surprised, this is actually pretty good.

Had that one time at a party back in the day. I have had a wicked lot of beers from these guys, most of which are not at all good whatsoever, this included.

 

 

This beer is a big surprise to me, Not sure what to expect from AB, there have been a couple of nice beers brewed but the most part of them are very average and taste similar, but not this one.

It has the bourbon barrel taste to it for sure, and for the most part it is throughout the mouthful. Beer is not very heavy, feels medium bodied with medium carbonation.

I will say this, this is by far the best Budweiser Reserve series beer, and I enjoy this more than 90%+ of the other Bourbon Barrel beers on the market. I hope they re-release this again soon.

 

Another fantastic sweet, malty offering from Bud. This was one of my favorites. Please bring it back.

 

Pours clear dark copper brown with a creamy off-white light khaki colored foam head. Notes of roasty caramel malts, some meaty smoke, dried dark fruits like fig, molasses, toasty roasted malts, mild bourbon, oak, hint of apple, nice clean flavor that isn't too heavy or sweet. Feels light bodied, creamy smooth with moderate crisp carbonation. Overall a nice black lager aged on Jim Beam bourbon barrel staves.

 

Currently #51 in the Top ranked Schwarzbier beers list.

I held off on buying this because it's $7.99 USD plus tax for a 4-pack here in New Orleans, LA, but then I caved because I'm weak and I really liked the Discovery Reserve/amber lager reserve beers in this weird Budweiser Reserve series of brews.

Comes in a cute lil snub top bottle that's still 12 fl oz. 7.15 ABV. "Black lager."

Coke, caramalt, syrupy malt extract, molasses, roasted barley, toast, 2-row sweetness, chocolate malt, coffee-like roastiness, and a hint of shitty bourbon. Has no real oak flavour to it at all, and I'd never figure it for barrel aged if I tried in a blind taste test (the whole aging on staves gimmick is just sheer marketing).

But I'll damned if it's not better than that Knob Creek/New Belgium abomination and I do prefer this to the Budweiser Copper Lager Jim Beam collab.

The silky vanillin coupled with the obvious roasty flavours and the robust ABV makes it enjoyable albeit not worth ~$2.20 a bottle. Yeah, the gooey malt extract/molasses aspects of the beer aren't great, but this definitely exceeded my meagre expectations. It's an above average stab at a Schwarzbier, and apples to apples it beats other expressions of the style from large American breweries (e.g. Spoetzl). It's not going to unseat Kostritzer or its ilk in the eyes of diehard Schwarzbiere fanatics, but I'm glad I tried it.

Low C+ / ABOVE AVERAGE

 

Pours a clear dark brown with a very thin head. Plenty of carbonation.
Smell of caramel malt and black licorice.
Taste of roasted barley, whiskey, toffee and baker’s chocolate.

A: crystal clear; deep amber in color; 1 finger finely pored tan head that receded to a thick collar; OK lacing;

S: sweet malt with a hint of oak/smoke;

T: sweet malt with molasses; mild bitterness with oak and a hint of smoke on the finish;

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

O: mild and inoffensive;

Budweiser Reserve Black Lager brewed
Anheuser-Busch, with an ABV of 7.10% This German Schwarzbier pours out of a 12oz glass bottle into a pint beer glass. The color is a deep brown color with a small light brown head. There is also some thin lacing to this brew. The smell is Rich with Roasted grains and malts. There is also a nice amount of hop bitterness in the smell as well. You also pick up some nice Jim Beam notes in the smell as well. So far Budweiser Reserve Black Lager is a nice inviting brew. Now for the taste, it is Bold with flavors. There is a nice amount of roasted grains, malts, mixed with whiskey notes. The body of Budweiser Reserve Black Lager is a medium to heavy, but not to heavy. There is nothing overpowering about this brew, it has a super nice balance to it. I can't get over how smooth this brew goes down. It is really hard to pick up on the 7.10% ABV in this brew. It is just that smooth. The mouth feel is Bold, Rich, Roasted, Clean, Smooth, an Refreshing. Overall I am going to give Budweiser Reserve Black Lager, a solid 4 out of 5. I would definitely look this brew up again givin the opportunity to.
Anheuser-Busch, did a super nice job with this brew.

Look: Clear dark amber. Three fingers of foamy off-white head with good retention.

Smell: Sweet malt, with a light floral hop note and some oak.

Taste: Extremely mild, almost flavorless. A minor bitterness on the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel: Full and smooth, with good carbonation.

Overall: A very weak example of a schwarzbier. Not bad, but not good either.

Certainly more drinkable than a typical Bud, but nothing to get excited about.