Crystal Diplomat Dark Beer
První Budějovický Pivovar Samson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A- Pours a nice dark brown/ruby color with 1 finger head that recedes to no lacing.

Smell- A very fresh flour aspect that I seem to be finding in a lot of euro lagers lately. A nice cherry note pops through as well as some nice dark chocolate and a touch of vanilla. Very complex for a euro lager.

T- Nice chocolate covered cherries, vanilla.

M- Low carbonation and very creamy.

D- Very nice lager that has very complex flavors. It sells for $2 for a pint bottle so it's a huge winner in my book.

Another one of my early converts: back when I was trying to break free of the buds and the swill. This was available at our local Czech restaurant. Nice pint bottles.

This poured a very dark brown with smallish head. The nose has some malt. Malt is the most prevelent taste as well. Not much hops but malty and a tad roasted. Mouth feel is discounted a tad because of the lager. I like lagers less after I have tried all the others. This is still nice and smooth. This is like a GOOD Amberbock.

Unfortunately, I checked the other day at my favorite beer store and it is not readily available. Not sure what has happened here. There are other beers from this brewer available. I will pick one up again when I see it. Fond memories of my infancy.

Appearance – Defined by a dark amber hue

Smell – Great toasty smell, full nose

Taste – Great almost caramel finish. Unbelievably fulfilling. Full flavor profile that focuses on malt with little regard to the hop

Mouthfeel – Nice degree of malty bitterness and flows solidly around the palate.

Drinkability – Not to be drank for the sake of mass consumption, Traditional European dark that yields a complete taste profile.

Find it if you can, seems very few container loads make there way to the states. A true find if you can find it.

poured a depp reddish-brown color with modest tannish foamy head that left nice lacing. Smell is tremendous, being a nice mixture of dark fruits (prunes, raisins) and toasty malt, blending together to give a red wine like scent. Very pleasant. Taste is strong on malt, with an enjoyable fruity sweetness. Finishes with more sweetness, but very nice. A very one-dimensional beer, but that dimension was superb.

Pours a reddish brown color with a white head that disappears fairly quickly to leave a white foam on top.

Burnt toast, some noble hops, and european smell of malt. A bit watery on the entry...doesn't get much better all the way to the back as far as mouthfeel is concerned. The flavors develop nicely in midmouth. The malts give a hint of chocolate and just a touch of roast. The toast present in the nose does not deliver on the palate to the extent I would expect. Nice flavorful dark beer. A nice representation of the european style dark lager. Smooth and easy to drink.

The hops are present late and through the finish. Provides a nice balance.

I tasted side by side with Kostritzer Schwarzbier and was surprised to find that while the Kostritzer had a fuller mouthfeel, this provided more flavor punch.

Clear, caramely coloration, nearing on a russety brown, thinnish head,..eh.
Aroma: sweetish, nutty, little whiffs of fruit, malt dominated, but ...eh...
Taste: not bad. Smooth, malty, nice enough taste, if a bit thin...regrettably one-dimensional.
Creamy mouthfeel.
Medium bodied, soft, caramely finish.
Drinks a-okay, but offers little reward.
Actually, gets better as it concludes...but still ends shallow.

Appearance – This one is a dark brown in color with a brownish head that came up nicely.

Smell – This is pure and unadulterated European malts. They are heavily-toasted and complimented with some sweet sugar. It almost has a chocolaty sense.

Taste – The taste here is pretty raw stuff. It’s similar in fact to a Schwartzbier. The malts are unapologetically bitter and toasty, almost burnt but not quite. The sweetness changes dramatically from the nose. Here at the tongue it’s more like cookie dough mixed with raw maple.

Mouthfeel – This is not a big lager, quite shy of medium-bodied. It is lightly carbonated with a solid malty bitterness throughout.

Drinkability – Real beer drinkers will appreciate this lager, even if they don’t care for the flavor. It has a rough and tumble way about it, but it’s certainly a true European Dark Lager.

Crystal clear, dark orange with a generous infusion of blood red. The head is pearlescent ecru with a smooth, gently hummocked surface. The foam doesn't appear to be tacky enough to result in much lace... and doesn't.

The nose is somewhat bold and is fairly typical for the style. It consists of sugary fruit (currants, dried figs, dates), lightly toasted nuts and a whiff of spicy molasses. The aroma tells me that the flavor may be a contender. Here's hoping.

Eh, not really. It isn't bad, but that's as far as I'll go. The malt backbone is a bit weak even taking style into consideration. I can still appreciate a dark fruitiness (with a little cocoa thrown into the mix), although now it isn't nearly as bold.

There's very little bitterness and very little hop flavor; it reminds me to some extent of lightly sweetened black tea. The light body comes dangerously close to downright watery on the finish. It doesn't deteriorate much with warming though, for which I'll cut it some slack.

Crystal Diplomat (the name must not translate well) is a so-so offering that I'll have no trouble finishing, but which I'll forget by the time I've rinsed out my glass.

Light brown with some ruby highlights. Well carbonated, frothy head, moderate to okay lacing. Aroma is dry and roasty. Flavor is chocolate malt and carmel malt. Huge sweet flavor, no hops can be detected. I was really impressed by this beer. I will seek this out again.

Pours a clear dark brown brew.

Smell is sweet malt and toasted grain and a bit of fruity smell.

Taste is sweet and malty with a toasted grain flavor mild taste of raisins and prunes.

Mouthfeel is good.

A nice drinkable brew, might be a bit sweet for drinking all the time.

Tall, crumpet-shaped, mocha creme-colored head. Dark, mahogany brown liquid.
It smells precisely like dark caramel with good intensity. Very simple.
It is frothy and delivers very watery caramel and burned sugar flavors. The finish features a nice, tight bitterness that is reminiscent of charred sugar.
It is very much like an alcoholic root beer. There is a vague rooty dimension to the flavor, though not exactly like roots of sasafras. More licorice or chicory-like actually.
Quite sweet beer for one this light in body. Too sugary to drink much of it.

Crystal Diplomat Dark Beer sits on my desk in a 16 fluid ounce (1 US Jessie Pint) tall thin brown glass bottle. Has a front label with a black background with gold edging, and the words Diplomat Dark Beer in red, whilst all the other wording is in white. The top 4” portion of the sloping neck has silver foil, which also covers the cap.

Wow, it pours with a very lively, vigorous head that looks fantastic, smooth tan brown affair comprised of a myriad of tightly fitting small bubbles underneath which are almost naked to the eye. On top some larger bubble give a lunar landscape appearance that still looks very inviting. Chestnut brown body is lucid with no streamers at all. Solid levels of dissolved carbon dioxide that appears to mimic the characteristics of Nitrogen, such is its smooth appearance when swirled.

Aromas are of dark toffee and dark malts with a very sweet molasses hint at times. Some feint Coffee aspects as it warms I find. Very pleasing aromas, even though I do not take to sweet beers too much.

Sits on the tongue well and allows a range of light toffee caramel tastes, which are sweet in nature, roll easily around the mouth. Some nuts, coffee and a light bitter roastness. The sweetness is a little too much though after a while, not sickly, or even sticky, just too sweet.

The body is light, but the mouthfeel is definitely smooth and creamy, has a very silky feel to it, very much like craft-quality Vanilla Toffee Ice-Cream melting in the mouth. This may go well with sweet desserts actually, thinking about it, and I do.

An easy beer to consume, but the Drinkability is tainted somewhat by the pervasive sweetness, shame. The toffee and nutty aspects are pleasant though.

The appearance and aroma are very good, it is such a shame that the tastes do not do their part in the beer, and rather let it down somewhat. The high sweetness levels, although not sugary, become a little too much after a while. A reasonably good, average beer, but if you do not like sweet beers, you should avoid this one, if not, it’s worth a try – and it’s cheap also LOL.

Hey, I had to try it for $1.79 a bottle.

And a brown bottle it comes in, too. The beer was dark brown in color, with some amber highlights, the head was really something to see, big and tan, at least 2 inches high, full of hills and valleys. Its died back down, but I have a nice top layer covering the beer, with some lacing left through-out the glass.

The appearance and smell are the best part of this beer. The aroma is of sweet malt, with some slight alcohol also present.

The taste is a bit disapointing, though. The taste is almost all malt, from sweet syrup, to chocolate, to a roasted nutty hazelnut. Unfortunately, it's got a thin body, almost watery, and suffers from a metallic aftertaste.

Would try again, if I could find a bottle that had a date on it. The beer was not bad by any means, just not as well rounded as it could have been. I think the thin body was the most disapointing aspect. pat