Sternburg Schwarzbier
Leipziger Brauhaus zu Reudnitz GmbH

A: Pour is dark deep reddish brown. The tan head is creamy thick, large and compact. The dissipation is slow and leaves rich lacings.

S: Sweet, surprisingly light, roasted malt. Loads of dark dried fruits - cherries. Some faint bitter hops. A bit mild in smell.

T: Dry roasted malt. Chocolate. Bitter hops. Some coffee. Dry. Faint vanilla.

M: Body is full and carbonation is light. Aftertaste is medium long, bitter and dry.

D: Schwarzbeer is a nice style. This isn't a bad one, but pretty far from the best ones...

 

Bottle acquired in an REWE store in Northern Berlin, Germany. Poured into a generic snifter in me friend's gaff in Berlin. Reviewed live.

A: Pours a two finger head of nice cream and good thickness. Retention is above average. Black non-transparent colour.

Sm: Caramel, nuts, and maybe some chocolate. Certainly barley. Overall, this is a light scent with difficult to detect notes, especially for me broken nose. All apologies, lads.

T: Nutty, hoppy body lacking roasted barley: damnit! Some cream and well-handled malt on the climax, adding to the beer's complexity. It's well balanced, but overall a bit too simple for the style (as a beer, it's complex enough anyway). The hopped barley serves as an adequate foundation for the limited complexity of the beer, but is far from anything particularly special.

Mf: Coarse where it counts, and wet throughout. Not a refreshing beer, but a decent one certainly. Partly matches the flavours of the body, but far from perfectly.

Dr: Filthy dirt cheap. I feel like I'm robbing the store when I buy this. A decent representation of the style, but far from what would be acceptable to your average German here (and I'm not even in München). Slides down easily enough, but this is not a beer you'd buy to get slammed on. Surprisingly, the alcohol is actually to some extent present, which is inexcusable for a 4.90% ABV beer. Hot damn!