Park Schwarzbock
Park & Bellheimer AG

There’s some decent roast grains in here, with a little of the coffee bitterness, but lacks the oomph and heft of some of the other dunklers out there. Kind of lackluster, but drinkable

50cl bottle poured into seidel

BBE 22 Sept 2011

A- Mahogany body with ruby highlights, 3 finger tan creamy head reducing to a 1/2 finger which lasts well, lacing is good. Clarity is excellent.

S- Treacle, toffee and toasted malts.

T- Toffee and treacle sweetness up front balanced by some toasted malts eventually fading to a light chocolate creaminess. No suggestion of alcohol. Flavours perhaps subdued but balance and profile are there.

M- Moderate carbonation, medium body, lager clean.

D- Excellent flavour profile but id say flavours are subdued. Id like the flavours to be stronger which would probably give an impression of a fuller body. Nevertheless, the flavour profile is very good with excellent mouthfeel/lager cleanliness.

Poured from a 500 ml brown bottle into my custom lager glass. Freshness date of 18.09.09 is printed on the label, placing this one clearly within its prime.

Pours a deep, clear copper hue with a nice, thick, creamy light tan crest of foam that fades away a bit rapidly, with a retentiveness that is quite disappointing, leaving behind virtually no lace on the glass.

Aroma is lovely, rich and malty. Very clean, with nothing else to detract from what the brew is: a strong, malt-driven lager.

Mouthfeel is somewhat disappointing, with very little apparent carbonation, which likely relates to the sparse head and lack of retention. Mildly rich and chewy, but with more of a medium body and far from thick or syrupy. Sweet caramel malt toys with a bit of toasted bread, with some faint noble hop character balancing things along with just a hint of alcohol just before a mildly sweet finish. Not cloying, though toying with cloyingness a little too much.

Decent, and mostly well-balanced. The aroma is pure heaven for a Bockbier, and undoubtedly a little more carbonation on the palate would serve this beer well, lending the slight bit of balance to the sweetness that is needed. The name is a bit of an enigma, though -- Schwarzbock? the label claims that it is "Stark und schwarz," and stark is understandable, with a hefty 6.9% ABV that nearly steps into Doppelbock territory, but schwarz? Not so much.