Apollo's Orbit
Schlafly Beer - The Tap Room

 

 

Pours a ruddy brown color. Opaque but not hazy. Thin velvety off white head dissipates slowly but not completely. Nice looking beer.

Aroma has notes of lightly toasted malts, bready malts, hints of spicy rye, a touch of nuttiness and some light earthy spicy hops. The aroma is mostly nutty, really rich and earthy.

Taste follows the nose with notes of bready malts, rye, light cocoa notes with a hint of toasted bread. With a couple months on this the roasted malts have calmed down a bit and are more balanced. Earthy spicy hops on the back end provide a slight hoppy bite. Hints of smoke and a touch of cocoa powder comes through.

Feel is light with mellow, moderate carbonation. Smooth with a semi-dry finish.

When I initially had this it was a bit too roasty for the style, but with a couple months on it, its really mellowed out. Lovely, easy drinking beer that hits all the right notes.

Mahogany brown colored with a quarter inch of beige on top. The aroma is of caramel, chestnuts, and a hint of smoke. I’m tasting marzipan and caramel. The mouth is easygoing and refreshing.

Aroma is malts, brown bread and slightly smoky/burnt toast. The flavor is brown bread, malts, mild dark fruit and a mix of acidity and sweetness in the finish.

On tap. Poured an opaque, jet-black color with a small, off-white head of foam. It smelled of coffee, chocolate and toffee. Sweet chocolate up front with a coffee-like bitterness.

12 oz bottle. Pours brown with tall, long-lasting, foamy, off-white head and lovely carbonation. Aroma is of toasted malt and Noble hops. Body is medium and slightly crisp. Taste of toasted malt, toffee and grassy hops. Finish is long and dry. Good overall.

Pours black with a finger and a half of khaki foam. Head retention is good. Aroma is roasty, toasty, nutty, bready, biscuity and wafery malts with very light herbal and dank/resiny hops. Flavor profile is roasty, toasty, nutty, bready and biscuity malts with little herbal, spicy and resiny hops. Bits of toffee, caramel, molasses and bread add a little additional complexity. Mouth feel is fuzzy with a medium thickness. Soft effervescence up front keeps it drinking smooth, although not crisp. Overall, dark notes are playful within this lager base, creating a pleasant and unique brew.

Served in a 15.5oz Speigalau tulip from a 12oz bottle.

From the bottle, it pours a nice brown color with a modest light brown head that slowly dissipates. Caramel malt and roast malt in the nose. The mouth gets the same, caramel malt, but not overwhelmingly so.

A: The beer is black when viewed from afar but when held up to a bright light it is dark brownish red in color. It poured with a short off white head that left a collar consisting of medium-sized bubbles around the edge and a thin layer of bubbles covering the surface.
S: Light to moderate aromas of dark malts are present in the nose.
T: The taste follows the smell and has lots of flavors of dark malts along with a slight amount of bitterness and hints of roasted malts.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This schwarzbier is filled with lots of flavors of dark malts but is very easy to drink since it isn't that heavy on the body.

Serving type: bottle

 

 

Taste: semi sweet dark chocolate malts, smoked, earthy notes, some roasted bitter dry at end. Same with the nose. Very dark brown/mahogany, semi clear, tan foamy head some lace. Medium body. Pair well with many dishes. 25 IBUs

Okay -- I really shouldn't leave my review count at the sign of the beast, so I'll throw myself on the last offering from the Lunar Lager mixed pack.

Poured into my tall Becher from the usual style Schlafly longneck. No dates apparent.

L -- Deep, dark brown color -- yet showing very clear, with copper highlights. dense off-white to light tan head that settles slowly -- leaving good lacing.

S -- Light roastiness with a touch of astringency and mellow DMS. Some sweetish dark chocolate back and some mild dark fruit notes. Some earthiness with warming.

T -- Roasted malts up front in a husky, black patent character -- very coffee-like. Mellow dark fruit notes of black cherry back -- nothing very sweet, chocolate or bready.

F -- The mouthfeel is very dry to crisp with a light-medium body. It touches on astringency, but not to any distraction of flavor.

O -- This is definitely a well-made beer, but the roasted malts may have overpowered any other bready character or chocolate notes. The dark fruit esters bring Stout to mind and distract from a traditional Schwarzbier. The paradox being that this is a very drinkable beer and worth a try -- just don't use it as a Schwarzbier benchmark.

 

Very good drinkable, smooth, dark beer. Came in a sample case with 3 other beers. Lift-Off Lager, Moon Walk Dunkel and The Eagle Has Landed American Lager. It was nice getting a sample pack without IPA's or Sours for a change.