Black Pils
Von Ebert Brewing

I won’t know quite what style this is until I upload the review. Czech dark lager? I’m honestly not sure what to expect so let’s get into it.

Pours from the can a watered down cola brown, not quite black. The aroma has some roasty notes, like a light French roast coffee. I don’t get the grassy notes or a crisp biscuit malt character as I might expect from a Von Ebert Pilsner. It’s ... all right.

Deep, clear, brown beer, not inky black, but nice looking. A frothy head, thick with plenty of staying power. Nice nose. Rich malts, with yeasty biscuit dough. Very light taste, low bitterness, cannot be mistaken for a helles-style lager with that base of roasted grain, but very lager-like in the mouthfeel, carbonation and lingering mellow taste. Very nice beer, a little more tasty. Recommended, at least to our liking, even if it strays a bit out of pils territory.

Can from ABV.

A clear dark brown with reddish brown highlights and a dense, beige head, this looks good. The nose opens with a little roast but also with a strange acidity, immediately followed by a definite pilsner hop profile. Bright and lemony with a little earth and mint, but lacking in either a soft, doughy grain or crisp , snappy cracker malt base to complement , this seems unbalanced. A mild roast note is present, but it doesn't seem to be particularly complementary. The palate opens with a blend of roast and hops, but in a way that just doesn't work. Instead of a deep, bready or pumpernickel like note, this is thin, a little watery and with a simple sugar note. Lightning body, a little watery and a little mineraly, this beer is carbonated at a rather high level. Decent.

Can from brewery.

Von Ebert's Black Pils looks to avoid most roast and malt characteristics found in schwarzbiers and instead play up the dry, bitter aspects of the style. Unfortunately, the mix is not particularly interesting as the beer is missing something to give it a presence, be it more of a malt character, a unique hop accent, or yeast byproduct. We lose the characters of a good German pilsner and/or schwarzbier, and end up with a mild, spicy bitterness atop a very minor roast character. The aroma is underwhelming, and the flavor is modestly two-note.

Pours a beige-colored foam that has excellent retention, fading to a medium-sized ring around perimeter of glass and island of film atop body. Lacing is modest, some dots and blotches cling to most sides of the glass. Body is a dark brown to nearly black color, with light bringing out brown-chestnut hues (SRM 27-30). Transparent.

Aroma displays subtle roast malt character with a bit of spicy/astringently citric hop character as from a north German pilsner, but is mostly clean with nuances of a dark-colored malt profile. No lager yeast character, sulfur, etc. - again, very clean and a bit toosubtle.

Flavor is a mix of subtly spicy, vegetal, and vaguely citric hop character with undertones of roast malt (no chocolate or coffee, just essentially a clean roast note). Roast malt flavor increasing in strength as the sip moves across the palate. Front: a blend of faded-out roast malt, light caramel character, and spicy/vegetal/citric hop character. Mid: roast malt with spice and subtle crushed green leaf character from hops, perhaps the slightest touch of light-colored caramel malt character to smooth out the roast malt. Back: thinned-out roast malt character (clean, dry, not chocolate or coffee-like) with some spice and light to medium-light bitterness from hops. After: lingering medium-light to medium bitterness with a background of mild roast malt flavor that offers a hint of coffee-like character.

Beer is medium-light to medium in body with carbonation of fairly high intensity (>2.5 vol CO2), leading to a mostly foamy (with large bubbles) mouthfeel. Closes dry, with light stickiness on the palate and lips.