Traditions Gebrau Lecker Und Frisch Dark Lager
Klosterbrauerei Neuzelle GmbH

Coffee/chocolate forward

Part of the variety 24-pack 16.9oz cans Costco $59.99
212 days before best by date
Smells of roasted malts, dark chocolate
Dark black color
Medium mouthfeel
Medium carbonation
Taste of roasted malts, caramel, dark chocolate
Overall a fairly good beer.

Extremely dark brown almost black with a three-finger light tan head. Aroma is roasted grains with sweet malty flavors. Taste is also roasted grains with very light hints of coffee-chocolate.

Pours a nearly opaque brown with light tan foam that does not last long. Smell is malt, with grassy hops and a little caramel. Flavor is strong with caramel malt. Grassy hops comes on later, and provides a smooth aftertaste. Feel is also smooth, with just enough carbonation to not be cloying. Overall, this is a very good example of a dark lager, but only very good.

 

 

 

This is my kind of beer. I think of beer as lager, so don't really think of pale ale as beer, even though there are some things in common. This feels smooth, and has a very nice taste. I'm drinking from a can, and suspect this would be even better on tap.

 

Klosterbrauerei Neuzelle GmbH "Traditions Gebrau Lecker Und Frisch Dark Lager"
500 ml can coded "17.08.2025 NDL P058170524" and sampled on 29.10.2024
$59.99 / 24 can - Costco's Biergarten Collection, Costco, Christiana, DE

Notes via stream of consciousness: From the Klosterbrauerei Neuzelle, southeast of Berlin on the Czech border, comes "Traditions Gebrau Lecker Und Frisch Dark Lager". For those that don't speak German the name means "Traditionally Brewed Tasty and Fresh". This is yet another beer from the Costco box that's been brewed in Germany but shipped to Poland for packaging and I'm assuming that these are beers that come from smaller breweries that either only produce draft beer, or more likely, just draft and bottles, and in this case a can is needed so the importer has arranged for that. It's poured a very dark brown body that appears black in the full glass beneath a thumb's width of densely creamy khaki colored foam. When held to the light you can see that it's clear, and there are some lovely ruby and crimson hightlights. The aroma is clean with some mild grainy and lightly chocolatey and caramelish malt, a delicate fruitiness, and some grassy hops. The taste is richer than the aroma suggests but basically follows suit. The grainy malt remains, which is interesting because there's also a chocolate fudge-like note, some golden and medium dark caramel, and an ashen roastiness. The hops remain grassy but they're also floral, and there's a little bit of apple from the yeast. A stiff bitterness balances it and it finishes dry with the chocolate edged caramel passing, followed by grassiness, and then lingering dull roastiness and bitterness. It's very nicely rounded and balanced. In the mouth it's medium bodied and smooth with a median, fine-bubbled and seemingly natural carbonation. This is a great beer, and maybe my mind is deceiving me because I'm aware of the breweries location on the border of the Czech Republic, but it reminds me of many of the beers that I've had in Prague. The head retention could have been a little bit better but at the same time it does have a softer carbonation which lends to that, but also gives a smoother mouthfeel. The lacing is very nice with a whole lot up top where the head began, and then walls and tattered sheets below. I'm on the border of giving it a 4.25 out of 5 for appearance but I'm not sure. Regardless, this is a great beer all around that probably wont score well or garner a lot of attention but really deserves to.
Review #9,058

 

From the half liter can in the 2024 Biergarten Collection from Costco, it pours a clear dark color with a nice off-white head that diminishes to a thin layer, nice ring and lacing. The nose gets roasted malts. The mouth gets the same, a nice roasted malt flavor with a modest aftertaste.

 

500ml can from Costco's 2024 Holiday Collection. Served in a Tervis at the Fall 2024 Albino Skunk Music Festival.

Perhaps a bit cleaner tasting and better looking than the average Euro Dark Lager, but not much above average overall.