Salute Your Schwartz
Alvarado Street Brewery

 

 

Canned on 3/1/19. Drank from a chimney glass.
L: The beer pours a dark cola brown and settles with the appearance of cold brew coffee. A slow and standard pour yielded over 3 fingers of a bubbly, khaki-colored head that retained rather nicely. The glassware probably facilitated the rapid head advancement to some degree, but it is a welcome sight. In terms of lacing, thick, sudsy, soapy residue clings to the glass - me likey.
S: Roasted malt character is the dominant aroma, with subtle notes of raw cocoa, coffee and nuts. Smells great.
T: Really tasty. It encompasses the clean, crisp, and grainy flavor of a pilsner with the robust malt character from darker ales such as a porter. Again, I know little about these beers, I am just giving my impression. Malts and chocolate comprise the majority of the flavor, with subtle flavors of graham cracker, coffee, and grains.
F: Medium in body and light to medium in weight, somewhere flirting on the line in between. Carbonation seems low, but that adds to the smoothness of the beer. It has a nice texture and is lush, smooth, and light on the tongue.
O: Maybe it's the newness of the style, but I am head-over-heels for this. And at 4.7%? Gamechanger. I am very grateful to be sippin' on this! Plus, gotta give props to the can art. Cheers!

July 21st, 2015 - Alvorado is famous now (December 2018) but back in 2015 it was a humbler station. I started my tastings with them with the Salute Your Schwarz, a play off an old Nickelodeon show that was popular in my school years. Dark and brooding, it has a healthy crown of foam around the edge, that slowly drips down to reveal a face in the artistic tradition of Cal Arts (think Adventure Time.) The aroma is generically light and malty, but the flavor is fine. Quenching with a soft and toasty roast character, it is simple, but good and sets a straight forward course on the style. Direct, good, and no frills, I can see how this brewery has set itself up for future success.

 

A big thanks to Jay for this one. I love a good schwarzbier.

Salute Your Schwartz isn't quite as dark as a lot of the schwarzbiers I'm familiar with, but it is beautiful nonetheless. More of a deep walnut brown with crimson highlights. Nice and clean looking too, and capped with a stubborn, creamy and foamy khaki colored head.

A good helping of roasted malts portrays a nice toasted pumpernickel bread. Some earthiness, olive oil, and the faintest suggestions of caramel and smoke come through. Being an homage to the silly camp based TV show, I think it would be fun to have a touch more smoke, but nothing to check negative against this. It smells great.

And it tastes great too. Maybe it's in my head, but there seems to be a nice amount of smokiness to it. Roasted nuts and burnt toast might be the culprits, and they balance out with touches of brown sugar and a mildly spicy and floral hop finish.

It feels as it should. Nice and light, very crisp and clean, but with a bold and roasty character. Well balanced. Spot on balanced in fact.

This is a perfect cold weather daytime drinker. Just so happens that I'm an enjoying this on that exact kind of snow dusted winter afternoon. Give me more. I love the style, and I love this beer. Thanks again Jay. Cheers!