Eagle Five
The Tap Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

Creamy, beige head. Leaves chunks, strings and a blanket of lace. Dark brown where no light shines through.

Dark, nearly burnt toast aroma. Malted milk balls. A bit of cocoa. Minimal hop.

Burnt sugar with biscuit. Strong hop bitterness in the swallow and aftertaste. Overall mocha flavor on the tongue. The beer has the proper body for the style, which is thinner than one might expect. The carbonation leans to elevated side. Easy to drink with great complexity.

 

 

A-Pours pretty dark. Slight head with slight lacing. Moderate light penetration.

S-Definitely a nice aroma. Sudsy and piney hops mixed in with Lager yeast, cocoa and some roast. Hoppy Black Lager is accurate.

T-The "noble dry hopping" adds a legitimate bitterness but the actual hop-derived flavor is not very talkative. Mostly just some bitter notes without much specific flavor to back it. Some chalky roast and yeast and also a helping of dark chocolate.

M-Relatively light in body especially for the gravity. Bitter and dry.

O/D-Has some pretty neat qualities. A cheap bomber too. Nothing spectacular but I don't regret the purchase.

 

 

 

Had this on tap at the British Beer Company in Walpole. Unsure if its a seasonal, limited, year-round or what.

Advertised as an india schwarzbier.

Pitch black, with an off-white head.

Smelled like a traditional yet bold schwarzbier. Lots of dry, earthy roastiness. A little char. I even got a sense of powdery oats.

Taste is again more in line with a traditional schwarzbier, just with the robustness turned up a notch. I don't taste a huge hop presence, though it doesn't lack hops. They're hidden well enough. I really like how it tastes, I just don't get the "india schwarzbier" sense so much.

Mouthfeel is dry, a little creamy, fairly full bodied for a beer that's traditionally on the thinner side.

Overall I really liked this one. I have hard time rating it, because if they were going for a hopped-up version, I didn't really get that sense. But I did get the sense it was more robust than your traditional schwarzbier, while still keeping what I love about a properly brewed, old fashion black lager. In the end, would I have it again? Absolutely!