Dark Lager
Stestí Brewing Company

Buried roast. Cacao powder. Breadiness.

Not dazzling.

C / AVERAGE

Stesti Dark Lager has a thick, creamy, beige head and a dark red-brown appearance, with minimal glass lacing. The odd aroma is of cocoa and dark bread crust. The taste, also odd, is of sourness, cocoa powder, and tap water. There is no bitterness, but some strange malt notes. Stesti has a medium body and a semi-dry finish.

RJT

 

A: Pours an opaque yet still clear extremely dark brown (approaching jet black in color) with moderate amounts of active visible carbonation rising along the edges of the glass and moderate dark chestnut brown + dark cola brown + garnet red colored highlights. The beer has a two finger tall fizzy sudsy foamy tan head that quickly reduces to a medium to large sized patch of extremely thin film covering a little more than 50% of the surface of the beer and a very thin ring at the edges of the glass. Minimal amounts of lacing are observed.

S: Moderate aromas of dark fruits (plum + tart cherries) over the top of light aromas of dark + roasted malts with minimal amounts of sweetness. There is a hint of sourness.

T: Upfront there are light to moderate flavors of dark + roasted malts with minimal amounts of sweetness. That is followed by a moderate flavor of dark fruits (plum + tart cherries). No detectible hop presence and the beer has a light lingering amount of sourness.

M: Light to medium bodied with slightly heavier than moderate amounts of carbonation.

O: Drinks fairly easily with well hidden alcohol. Interesting - there are certainly aspects of this beer that remind me of a baltic porter but there is also a very light presence of tartness that was unexpected and doesn't quite work perfectly.

A: The beer is very dark brown in color; when held up to a bright light it is clear dark red in color. It poured with a thin off white head that has good retention properties.
S: Light to moderate aromas of sour dark malts and cherries.
T: The taste is a bit sour and has flavors of dark malts.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a low amount of carbonation.
O: This beer is more sour than it is malty. It looks like a dark lager but is surprisingly fruity and sour.

Serving type: can

Hopefully this is just a bad batch. Poured it out. Funky smell and sour taste. Kinda like my old home brew days when something went wrong. I don't think this is what they were shooting for. Date on the can is 9/13/18

I assumed this would be like a schwartsbier but this was really strange. First, it smelled like flatulence, no joke, just like a huge fart. The taste wasn’t as bad but it is very malty, dried fruit, raisiny, sour. I was unable to drink more than half a can. Glad I bought this as a single. Perhaps this is your thing, not for me.

Perhaps a bad batch. This was completely undrinkable . I poured out two bottles. I'll try to take the rest back. If they won't take it I'll throw it away.

 

Had this as my second beer for my anniversary dinner. The first was Chimay Reserve, so the rating for this beer may be slightly prejudiced!

It was served in a tall tulip glass. Clear dark brown color with decent head and lacing. Nice somewhat easy smokey smell. Taste was of toasted malt and a bit grassy. Overall, not bad.