Imperial Schwarzbier
Stoudts Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at Stoudt’s in a lousy 12 oz wine glass instead of the usual 16 oz shaker
$ 4.75/12 oz glass
Aroma of malt, with a hint of smoke and chocolate
Head small (two cm, after bartender was done), medium brown, creamy
Lacing excellent – complete rings of tiny bubbles
Body dark brown, opaque
Flavor slightly bitter, malt forward, slightly smoked taste; no hops, no alcohol, no diacetyl
Palate medium, creamy, lively carbonation

Appearance 4.25, Aroma 4, Flavor 4, Palate 4, Overall 4

 

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a finger high tan head that took a very long time to die down and left large patches of bubbles on the surface and a thick collar around the edge of the glass.
S: There are aromas of chocolate and dark malts in the nose; these become stronger as the beer warms up.
T: The taste is similar to the smell and has flavors of chocolate and dark malts along with some hints of sweetness. No bitterness is present in the taste.
M: It feels a little more than medium-bodied and quite smooth on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer is very easy to drink because the alcohol is well hidden from the taste; however, I thought it could have used a little more hops to help balance off the sweetness.

 

 

A: It pours dark chocolate brown with a tinge of golden brown from the very slight amount of light that penetrates the glass. Fizzy honey brown head that dissipates quickly and leaves no residual lace on the glass.

S: Sweet malts and chocolate. Many layers of caramel, toast and leather. There's just a touch of sour in there. Grainy.

T: The malt carnival is piled with chocolate, caramel, and sweet toasted cereals. There's a very light hop profile, but it seems to be quietly balanced with the malt brigade.

M: This lager is very smooth and light on the palate. It's medium to full bodied, but doesn't leave your tongue feeling weighted down. There doesn't seem to be any clinging or tacky aftertaste.

D: Seamless. Sturdy. A great beer for an 80 something degree day, while on a deck, enjoying the company of good friends.

Picked up this caged and corked bottled at the brewery. $12 seemed a bit expensive.
A- It pours beautifully. Very deep brown almost black and completely opaque with a big tan head that hangs around as a small layer of froth.
S- Just a hint of roasted malts.
T-Nothing special in the taste, but I believe it should be like that for the style. Again there is a small roasty flavor, no hops.
MO-On the creamy side. It goes down very easy, but you get a feel of the higher abv in the finish. Good beer.

My last blind beer! How will I survive April!?!? Woe is me... Flute or pilsner glass. Why not both?! I'll see how each one treats and go with my favored glass.

The corked and caged bottle is a BITCH to open. It rips my thumbs and was a hell of a problem to unscrew. Reminds me of the Upland Blueberry I opened a while back.

A- Ended up liking the pilsner glass a ton more. Gives off a giant puffy lacing that is occlusive of 75% of the glass with insane retention and stickiness. The coloration of the mass that never truly leaves is dried coffee stains on a cotton white dress shirt. This sits above the soy sauce coca-cola mixture... not cloudy. Unusual.

S- Strong funky brown sugar coming through first. It has a background toasted funk going to it, a crystallized burnt sugar hint. Its a bit more muddy brown sugar than any other type of sweetness. A sharpness is on the backend... something acidic and fibrous. Can't pin it down, but its nothing negative so no complaints.

T- Nothing too complex or crazy. Opens up sweet and minorly bitter. The sweetness is principally what you expect from the nose. Burnt sugars and earthen brown sugars. Tad bit of chocolate, very minute amount. Middle has a rising of the bitterness as the sweetness saturates its location and fades to the back. Truly an interesting bitterness to it. Not necessarily burnt grain style or coffee bitterness, but some type of hops I don't taste too often. Good amount of hops, even. Can't place it. Its short lived and gives a very clean finish. Paper clean... school paper, not newspaper. Classy, college-ruled even.

As it warms up, the middle is more ethanolic than bitter. Really starts to hurt the flavors and cause problems for my enjoyment to it.

M- Full bodied, very crisp and carbonated. The alcohol is not excessively hot, but so imbalanced to the flavors and body it detracts hugely from the enjoyment. My mouth cries in pain at times. Not as sticky as I would have liked it.

D- Not the greatest beer. Actually, I would put it at less than awesome. It rolls around like a bit above average beer at times, but for the most part it starts to separate out and can't bring itself back together into a delicious mass once again. Watch this be low alcohol and it drinks like I feel a 10% might with the amount of burn, flavor, and annoyance.

I guess I was hoping for something thicker which wasn't the case here. The brew wasn't bad it just didn't come off as an imperial to me. The head was one that sank but didn't vanish completely which was nice. This beer just needed to be thicker or just a strong ABV for me.

750mL corked and caged bottle, picked up from the brewery direct.

appears an extremely dark brown, almost black. off-white colored fluffy head. slightyly roasty aroma, on top of classic lager aroma. it's subtle though.

taste is a bit of cocao, with some sweeter honey flavor. not overly complex. smooth mouthfeel, lower carbonation, but no the thinner side.

easy to put down the whole bottle myself. interesting style, but I wouldn't vote to include it in Stoudt's regular rotation.

I had this on tap at Bully's on Broadway in Columbia - served in a oversized wineglass(?)10oz pour.

The color is black and opaque clarity with thick rocky creamy beige cap with fine bead. The lace sticks pretty well. The smell was decent and light as expected with more lager-like cold serving temp, the mild toasted notes and light scent of lager yeast w/ subtle caramel malt and mild coffee-like aroma also a mild malted milk tinge which is pleasant. The feel while full, is smooth and only slightly sweet with moderately light in the roast and fairly high carbonation with good balance overall and semi-dry finish.

I like the way the toasted grain and light caramel comes across with practically no burnt flavor or really roasted taste, just a smooth flavor which has some coffee notes, but very gentle and nutty, not really any acidity. There is a light hop quality with the smooth gently sweet malt flavors carrying over with only a very subtle alcohol element in the finish. I really enjoyed this beer, nice change from the usual lager offerings-bock, pils etc. It is satisfying in every way and really solid flavor wise. I think this is an experiment that paid off for Stoudt's as the base style is still represented even when brewed to 'imperial' levels.

Aromas are quite mellow despite the pitch black thick looking beer before me. Light notes of roasted malt and toffee sweetness are the main contributors; also a little chocolate but all are a notch less than expected (probably because it's a lager).

The taste follows the nose, it drinks like a foreign extra stout where its thick and creamy but mellow in the chocolate/coffee/roasted malt department. Extremely light honey notes follow the chocolate/roastiness. Smooth finish overall; mouthfeel is average as well, drinks a little thin. This beer would have been amazing if it wasn't fermented with lager yeast (strips the flavor out of any decent beer in my opinion). The ABV is completely unnoticeable, you would guess 4-5% but 7 makes this dangerous because of the high drinkability and light/mellow flavors.
Overall a good offering from Stoudts but nothing phenomenal, recommended but you don't have to go out of your way to find this.

Poured from a bottle into a goblet.

Appearance: Pours a murky brown with one finger of tan head.

Smell: A very faint smell of sweet malt.

Taste: This one has a mild sweetness with hints of cocoa and honey. There is also a little bit of roast in the background.

Mouthfeel: The body is kind of thin. The carbonation seems good for the style and the beer is mildly dry.

Drinkability: I would say this beer is good but not great. It's not my favorite, but it is pretty well balanced.

750 ml corked and caged bottle from the brewery on release day...

A - Pitch black beer, nice frothy and creamy beige head. Looks rather thin, which is to be expected. Nice lacing.

S - Rather muted overall. Some roasted grains and sweeter malts. A dash of floral hops are there, though nothing is really jumping out.

T - Typically, Schwarzbiers are not my style, though this was wonderful. Some sweet and grassy hop notes are coupled with a drier caramel malt-esque base. Not weighted one way or the other, remarkable balance.

M - On the lighter side in the body, ample carbonation. Not necessarily watery and thin, but it is definitely bordering. Although, for the style, this isn't atypical.

D - For me, this is one highly drinkable beer. I did split the bottle, but both the flavor profile (which isn't overbearing in any way) and the ABV put this in range for a nice drinking beer.

Well done, Stoudt's - thanks for doing a style not a lot of breweries explore anymore.