Speedcult Black Lager
Short's Brewing Company

 

 

Very nice enjoyable beer - nice dark almost black color, moderate brown head with lingering lacing. Smells faintly of dark coffee and chocolate. Tastes of malt, dark coffee roast, dark chocolate and caramel. Very faint hints of vanilla. Smooth finish with good carbonation and light mouthfeel.

12 ounce bottle into a pilsner glass. Had 4/3/18.

Pours near black and opaque, with a two inch foamy head and lots of foamy lacing. Aromas of malt, caramel, smoke- which fades, cocoa, chocolate, light vanilla. The taste is malt, chocolate, molasses, some caramel, light smoke. A fair amount of hop bitterness. Tasted almost burnt at first, but it either went away or I got used to it. Mostly smooth, a good medium body, well carbonated.

This is a good example of the style, enjoyable. Great aroma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottled on 7/24/17. 12oz bottle poured into a tulip. Pours almost black with a nice creamy brown khaki head that falls leaving very nice retention and sticky lacing. The aromas are malt forward. Hints of cocoa, caramel, vanilla and smoke. The flavors basically follow the nose. More cocoa along with some dark chocolate. Nice solid bitterness. Malts do their thing, but it finishes dry. Alcohol goes unnoticed. Mouthfeel is nice. It's light but has a sturdy body to it. The carbonation is moderate to active. It's slightly fluffy, smooth and easy to drink.

This is a very nice black lager. It's pretty bold for being such a small beer. The craftsmanship is on point. Well done.

12 ounce bottle into lager glass, bottled on 7/24/2017. Pours nearly opaque dark brown/black color with a 1 finger fairly dense and fluffy tan head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, and toasted dark bread; with lighter notes of nuttiness, smoke, pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of roast/bready malt and light earthy hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, and toasted dark bread; with lighter notes of nuttiness, smoke, pepper, and herbal/grassy earthiness. Light herbal/grassy hop and roast/char bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, toasted dark bread, nuttiness, smoke, and herbal/grassy earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of roast/bready malt and light earthy hop flavors; with a great roasted bitter/sweet balance, and no acrid/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from hop/roast bitterness. Perfectly clean on lager flavors, with zero yeast notes present. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready/grainy, and slightly sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 4%. Overall this is a delicious schwarzbier. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of roast/bready malt and light earthy hop flavors; very smooth, clean, and easy to drink with the mildly bitter/drying finish. Very flavorful for the low ABV. Spot on to style. Clean Roast/Munich malt flavors with just enough hops to balance. A very enjoyable offering.

Very well done offering from Short's! Aside from Spruce Pilsner (which is a perennial favorite of mine , so it's unfair to compare) this was the winner for me out of the current variety pack. Pours a near-black with a finger or ao of mocha foam. Aroma is char, sugar, marshmallow, chocolate malt, and grain. The flavors are a nice clean lager grainy/biscuit flavor that gets washed with chocolate, roast, cream, and char.

 

 

I picked up a bottle of Short's Speedcult Black Lager in their newest variety pack. Short's has some skills when it comes to this style and I'm interested to see how this one turns out, so lets see how it goes. 2017 Vintage. Poured from a brown 12oz bottle into an Imperial pint glass.

A- The label is good looking, it has more of an edgy look than most of their labels and it's eye catching. It poured a dark black color that didn't change when held to the light and it had two fingers worth of chunky and bubbly darker tan head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it left some nice rings of patchy lacing behind. This is a very good looking Black Lager, I have no complaints at all.

S- The aroma starts off with a medium amount of sweetness with a nice milk chocolate aroma being the first to show up and it's got a nice creamy aroma showing up in the background. Up next comes some clean lager yeast and it leads into the malts which impart some nice roasted, slightly charred, slightly grainy, doughy and sweet malt like aromas with just a slight bit of a generic hop aroma in the background. This beer has a good aroma, it's more robust than most Black Lagers.

T- The taste seems to be similar to the aroma, but it's lighter and it starts off with a slightly lower amount of medium sweetness with the with the chocolate being the first to show up still and it imparts that same milk chocolate aspect, but this time it's not as creamy. Up next comes that clean lager yeast that goes into the malts which impart all the same aspects that they did in the aroma, but this time they are just a little lighter. On the finish there's hardly any hops with lower amount of bitterness with a roasted malt like aftertaste. This is a good tasting Black Lager, it's true to style and it's still just a little more robust than must.

M- Smooth, clean, a little crisp, on the light side of being medium bodied with a slightly lower amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is good and it works well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a good beer and it's a good example of the style, it had all the aspects that I was looking for and it really didn't disappoint in any aspect. This beer has good drinkability, I could drink a few of these, especially in the fall time. What I like the most about this beer is how true to style it is and that it's a little more robust for the style, to me that's what sets this beer apart. What I like the lest about this beer is nothing, there's nothing about this beer that felt out of place. I would buy this beer on it's own and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good Black Lager. All in all I was pretty happy with this beer and I was also a little impressed with it. It's not a favorite Shorts beer, but it's my new favorite Black Lager from them and it's the best Black lager that I've had in awhile. Good job guys, this is one tasty Black Lager,, Keep it up.