British-German beer style twins

The thing with pilsners and IPAs/Pale Ales etc- I don't really see it, but to each their own. Some weak czech pale Lagers on the other hand sometimes remind me of some british pale ales, even with some subtle fruity notes.

As to "other Schwarzbiers"-well, Xingu is a brazilian beer, never had it, but I guess chances are (not judging the quality of the brew) that it does not have too much in common with german Schwarzbiers I mean, compare this to US made Kölsches. The ones I had showed often no resemblence to a "real" Kölsch, but were basically Pale/Golden Ales for me. From which I would not follow with the conclusion that Kölsch is like Pale Ale/Golden Ale

That being said, I really get the Stout/Porter Schwarzbier comparison.

Speaking about east german styles, what about Doppelkaramel-sweet stout?

 

Nah, that's more like chum in the water, done delicately.

 

That's the konditorei-stout, right?

 

We're gonna need a bigger boat.

 

And a Narragansett or three.

 

That’s because Xingu is a black lager, but it isn’t a Schwarzbier. I know you know better, but people take BeerAdvocate beer classifications way too literally. And when people then give something like Xingu a low score because “it’s not true to style,” that’s just ridiculous.

 

Right, and there are a few kinds of black lagers from the Czech Republic that we don't see too often in the US. Some of them, like Herold, are closer to the Porter boundary than the German Schwarzbiers; more roast malt character, but still free of any rough edges.

It seems to me that a number of American black lagers are modeled on this type instead of a Schwarzbier - Death and Taxes, for example.

 

Take this with a grain of salt, cause I only had Death and Taxes once (after I had a bunch of other beers too), but to me, it seemed clear that it was at the tippy top of the "euro dark lager" category on BeerAdvocate because:

1) it's a very good beer
2) it's American
3) compared to other beers in the category, it tastes a lot like a porter
4) "euro dark lager" is used as a dumping ground for beers that don't fit elsewhere (for lack of a better term)

I'm not saying it doesn't "deserve" to be there, but that it didn't feel like a mystery why it was there (with item #3 being the most relevant to the discussion).

 

I'm not sure if we're talking about actual British-made beers or American takes on British styles, but worth nothing that there's no such style as ESB in the UK.

 

To add to your post -
And also worth noting that bitter comes in a range of colors... not just "dark brown."

 

And the color consideration was part of my motivation for asking in post #2:

"Was it perchance a Brown Ale?"

Cheers!

 

They closed Fuller's?! The horror!

 

My palate knows better. In the case of Xingu, I immediately thought "English pale", but I didn't research it beyond looking it up here in BA.com. And my company's firewall at work won't let me look it up on the brewery website, so I can only assume it's labelled a schwarz here because the company advertises it as such?

Xingu tastes like Praga Dark Lager, which is labelled a Euro dark lager. Actually, Xingu tastes like a really *good* Praga Dark ... I rated Xingu 4.0 because I really like it even if it doesn't taste like it's BA style label says it should.

Sometimes reviewing to style is dumb.

 

What about Fuller's ESB (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/71/219/) and Wells & Young's Bombardier (English Premium Bitter) (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/664/1826/) ?

 

Reviewing with style in mind is a much better way to do it .

 

That may be part of the reason the BA essay on reviewing beers for the site doesn't talk about reviewing to style.

 

Of course ... I qualified my anti-review to style stance with "sometimes".

How should we review a beer like Xingu that's mislabelled? Should we submit a style change request to Euro dark lager even if the brewery claims it's a schwarzbier? I've done that before I think.

All this talk of schwarzbier is making so dang thirsty for some Kostritzer!

 

I would not presume to be leaned enough to think I knew styles of beer across the board, much less to review them narrowly to a style. Especially these days. When I review beers I describe the beer in front of me mostly by sight, flavor and aroma. I'll name the beer but never worry about it ever being what it ought to be. It is what it is.

 

What about a beer that's labeled by the brewery as an Oktoberfest, but tastes closer to an AIPA? And yeah, I had one last year -- didn't get a great rating from me.