Schwarz Lager
Chuckanut Brewery

Look: Jet black on the pour and in the glass with a lovely tan head that slowly settles, coating the glass with lacing

Aroma: Freshly baked brown bread, roasted barley, wafts of coffee, chocolate, fermenting dough, and a hint of earthiness

Taste: Opens up with a delectable chocolate note and quickly followed by roast and bready malt. Dough and warm bread develop as more chocolate and roast weave in and out, lending their flavors to the growing entity. Closes out with roasted barley, chocolate, and light earthiness

Mouthfeel: Full but light, very clean, medium-high carbonation, and clean and crisp on the finish with a touch of dryness

Overall: Simply put, this is outstanding. Schwarzbiers are a top 5 style for me and I madly respect and have enjoyed every offering I’ve tried from these folks so the 6-pack purchase was a no-brainer. Spoiler alert – this is a damn fine example of the style and ridiculously tasty. Everything about it is on-point from aroma to taste to feel and this might be one of the absolute best I’ve tried from a stateside brewer. Slowing down to review it made its borderline perfection even more apparent too. Do not sleep on this if you see it. Highly recommended

2025-11-21
12oz can served in a stemless rastal. Dated 2025-09-09.

Pours black with a small dusty head. Smell is roasty, stewed dates, a little anise, lots of burnt toast. Something on the verge of smoke or char.

Taste is moderately sweet, hint of cola, heavily roasted nuts, coffee, notable char.

Mouthfeel is light and smooth, clean. Nice beer.

On draft at the Portland location

Very dark brown in color, off white colored head. Mild roasty aroma and taste. Good balance, not sweet nor dry. Medium bodied.

 

 

Thanks, Chris. Can, 4.8%

A very dark brown with a dense, beige head with good retention and lacing, this looks great. The nose is solidly roasty, with great grain, dark toasted wheat bread, a little pumpernickel, a light herbal hop character. The palate opens bitter and roasty, creamy with dark toasted bread, a really deep roast character. Impossibly creamy on the palate. A little bit of sweetness adds a little body and tempers the bitter edge off the grain and toast. Fabulous.

 

 

 

 

on-tap @ the brewery

Paired with some yam fries - excellent

Served in a shaker pint - dark cola body, thin head. This was pretty subtle for a schwarzbier - lightly hopped, roasty with faint smoke. The body here was a bit thin and lacked the real flavor profile depth i was hoping for when ordering this style. Just ok.

Poures a light black color dark with good carbonation and a small white head. Nose is faint with dash of hops, some smoke, molassess and roasty. Taste is pretty light, faint. Would like to have seen more flavor, bolder. Tasting notes were hops, toasted, light booze, some smoke. Mouthfeel is pretty thin.

On tap at the brewpub the other day.

The beer pours a very dark brown color with good head retention and lacing. On the nose I get quite a bit of licorise, coupled with some light sweet malt. The beer smells as if it will be on the dry side, which in fact it is. Flavors replicate the nose, and there is nice balance between the light sweetness and touch of licorise. Mouthfeel is pretty light in this beer, and alcohol is not the least bit noticeable. The beer finishes with a hint of licorise and bitterness.

Not my favorite style, but this example is pretty good.

The Schwarz features a bready aroma with an eclipsed head and scant lace. It looks like a dark rootbeer at first, but hold it up to the light and you'll see deep mahogany. Roasted elements make virtually no appearance. Instead, the flavor is dominated by an easy sweetness akin to molasses only lighter. Call it "molasses light." Modest but smooth.

Poured from growler into 10oz glass. Poured not quite black with a slight reddish tint, less than a half-inch medium tan head that had low retention and left a slight amount of lacing.

A pleasant, slightly roasty aroma greets the nose, with just a hint of hop spice at the finish. The flavors followed very closely, just a little more pronounced.

The body was typical for the style and I found this beer to be pleasantly drinkable. Overall an average example of the style, worth trying if you see it.

Edit on 2/18/10: I just tried the latest batch at the brewery yesterday and it's not the same beer. If I were doing my review now the numbers would be 2.5/2.0/2.5/2.5/3.0. The beer was not as flavorful as before, blander actually, and had a bitterness that wasn't completely pleasant.