Schwarze Tinte Collab Stout
Hopfenkopf Brau GbR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't drink coffee and I'm not a fan of porters and stouts. So, when I opened day 17 of the Costco Advent calendar I was a little worried when I pulled this beer out. Turns out, the Germans kept this in the Dunkel category and nowhere near a roasty, toasty stout which was great for me but bad for those who had their heart set on an English style stout. Very tasty but could have used a bit more carbonation for a richer head.

Appearance: dark brown in color, excellent clarity when held to the light, Ruby highlights pours a tan head with average retention, and some Belgian lacing on the glass.
Nose: Rich baked bread crust, some caramel and dark fruit raisin and fig and prune a little bit of chocolate very low cold brew like coffee, very low minty spicy hop aroma.
Palate: medium carbonation, medium-strong alcohol, moderate rich, baked bread crust with a low caramel and low sweet chocolate and coffee. Medium low bitterness, hop flavors are spicy minty woodsy. Finishes somewhat sweet with a lingering sweetness of chocolate. overall beer meets at the borderline of a Dunkle and schwarzbier. Good quality.

Day 17 A Stout, OK, average dark beer.

day 17 of the beer advent calendar. poured from a 500mL can into a FFF DLD nonic pint glass. pours ligh, see-through brown like sun tea almost and settles in the glass about the same. chestnut hued with almost two fingers of light khaki colored foam head. light chocolate and earthy aromas on the nose. taste pretty much follows and while it’s not a flavor explosion it’s semi-sweet in a very good way and extremely drinkable. medium-full mouthfeel. pretty heavy on the tongue in a good way. still very sessionable. this wasn’t much to look at but the flavors and feel was there for sure. highly enjoyable.

 

500ml can from Costco. Dark brown pour, skin of tan head. Toasty, malty aroma, light roasty notes. Taste is more Dunkel than stout. Malty, toasty, thin.

 

Hopfenkopf Brau GbR / "BREWED AND OWNED BY KALEA GBMH" "Schwarze Tinte Collab Stout"
50 cl can coded "EXP 2024/03 18:14 0707SP". Sampled on 21 October 2023

Notes via stream of consciousness: Its very dark brown body appears almost black in the full glass but you can still see crimson and orange highlights at the base. The head is an inch and a half of khaki colored foam that holds remarkably well. The aroma offers notes of dark bread, dark caramel, and subtle fruit. The flavor opens up and delivers rich notes of caramel that run across the scale from golden to red to almost burnt sugar. It's a hint toffee-like, and there's a suggestion of of milk chocolate and cocoa powder. Molasses appears in the finish, and there's even more. The fruitiness is like dark skinned fruits including raisin, date, and black currant. What's missing is roastiness although there is a slight edge to it and a subtle note of smokiness. It's really quite impressive, and surprisingly complex. The sweetness is balanced by a moderate bitterness that's enough to dry it in the finish. What I find interesting as well is that this isn't that strong, it's just 6.2%, but by holding back on the bitterness and hops you get a whole lot of character and complexity from the malts. In the mouth it's medium bodied on the fuller end and gently crisp and then smooth. In the end the head did drop but it held for a long time at the outset. Unfortunately it didn't leave a lot of lacing which hurts it a little on appearance. Beyond that I find it fantastic. It's a little sweetish but I'm almost the whole way through and I don't find it's built on the palate at all which means it has great balance. Nor has it become too much, or lost its appeal, and what I mean by that is that you'll sometimes find a beer that starts off great and has a lot of character but then it remains basically the same the whole way through and you kind of loose interest halfway through but that's not the case here. I have to admit that I wasn't expecting much from this, and you could certainly argue that it's not actually a "stout" but I was wrong and I don't care what you call it, it's a great beer.
Review #8,760

From the 500 ml can in a snifter. This unique hybrid pours a very dark brown
with a nice head of khaki foam that settles to a thick ring, thin swirling layer,
and sports some light lacing. Nose of subtleties; dark molasses, subtle roast,
faint coffee, faint dark breaded malts, subtle raisin. Flavors, while NOT a stout,
are excellent in the schwarzbier category. Dark molasses, light roast, rye bread,
raisin, subtle coffee, light dark chocolate. Mouth feel is medium; smooth, medium
light carbonation that is nicely soft, and a sweet dark breaded malt finish.

Overall----unique and very nice. Would LOVE to have this one again!

Cheers