Let's Talk About Schwarzbier

@guinness77 yeah, would love to meet up there sometime..... @herrburgess is a true lagerphile, even before it was cool! @JackHorzempa

 

Drinking that O'Hara's during the Irish stout tasting had me thinking how nice it was to enjoy something dark, roasty, low-abv and truly sessionable. Having a German friend has given me the chance to try a few Schwarzbiers, and I've enjoyed every one. Hopefully we'll see more, which really goes for many lager varieties in general. I haven't tried BaBa yet, so I'll be keeping an eye out.

 

Haha, still gotta make it to your brewery before I even think of going to South Carolina.

 

Uinta's Baba seems to be the one most widely available - it's pretty good.

 

I mentioned it on the last page but (and I know Westbrook isn’t super available)...but I really enjoy Dark Helmet. Really tasty, decent price. I liked Thirsty Dog’s rendition (can’t remember the name, something train-related) and Jack’s Abby Smoke and Dagger is pretty good too.

 

B52 has a beautiful biergarten. Well it's virtually all biergarten.

I love going there just to get pints of their Pils. I tried one of their hazy IPAs but it just seemed lacking after drinking the Pils.
But I hadn't seen their Schwarzbier the couple times I went last year.

Thinking about it I guess there isn't as many Schwarzbier even though I drink them often.

Black Thunder from Austin Beerworks was recently discontinued.

I like Rahr & Sons Ugly Pug quite a lot.
Legal Draft has their Black Letter Law (They call it a black pilsner but it's fully a Schwarzbier)
Live Oak's Schwarzbier is delicious as was their Schwarzer Rauch.

 

want to come down in April for the can release? It is on April 14th, fwiw.

 

Never made it over to the former East Germany, but the ones in Bamberg are quite good with basically no roast character at all. Klosterbrau's is one of my favorite beers, period.

 

A Schwarzbier that I enjoyed drinking in the past (when it was a regular beer) was Sam Adams Black Lager. I just went to the Sam Adams website to discover that this beer is not totally discontinued:

“AVAILABILITY

Seasonal Limited Release - Beers of Fall Variety Pack”

https://www.samueladams.com/craft-beers/seasonals/black-lager

I wish that they would release this beer as a standalone 6-pack. I would buy it.

Cheers!

 

Chris, have you had non-Bamberg Schwarzbiers during your Germany visits (e.g., Mönchshof Schwarzbier, Köstritzer Schwarzbier, etc.)? If so, how would you compare the roast levels of those beers vs. the Schwarzbiers you had in Bamberg.

Cheers!

 

Agreed. There's far too much history, and various regional influence to make any clear distinctions today.

I'm going to quote a bunch of stuff and make some underlines to try to make a point....bear with me....

Phew... what style were we talking about again? And this discussion grew out of the "bock" discussion, so there's likely some confusion/overlap there too. Are we overthinking this? Are we making this more difficult that it needs to be? I think so...

I have another example that seems problematic too.... I have no idea where DAB Dark [a beer I enjoy and have had many times] would fall among these interwoven styles. This website lists DAB Dark as "Euro Dark Lager", RateBeer lists it a "Dunkel/Tmavý", Untappd lists it as a "Munich Dunkel", and DAB's website doesn't define it; but I'll be damned if DAB's description and my many tastings of DAB Dark aren't exactly as many people here are describing a Schwarzbier. Then again, if we called it a Black Lager would that be wrong? Does calling DAB Dark one these specific styles make it a better beer? Could calling it one these styles make it a "worse" beer if it doesn't fit neatly into the assigned box, or if people have preconceived negative feelings about the assigned box?

We're never going to create or agree on a taxonomy that can accommodate for centuries of history and regional differences that can be of much use and relevance in the modern world. Trying to do so anyway might hurt the beer. I urge people to cast a wide net here, stay flexible with our thinking and language, and describe actual beer characteristics, over a specific style name.

 

I haven't. I've had Monchshof and Kostritzer as imports, but never in Germany where they'd assuredly be fresher. Neither of them are overly roasty either, but I'd say the Bamberg ones are even less so. They don't follow that theory that "blindfolded you'd think they were a dunkel" but they aren't a huge departure.

 

If I ever see it on draft, even now, I will get a pour. Back in the day it was mainly by the bottle, but there was a lone pizza joint that had it on tap, and it steered me there every time I got the pizza urge. Not sure what it was classified in the past, but all of the metals it has won (checked a couple) have been in the Swartzbeir category.

 

Good news! If I hadn't read that I was going to post about how much I missed Samuel Adams Black Lager. Well, I'll still miss it until SA actually releases it again.

 

Really enjoy the style. Last one I had was the Monchshof, which was very good although it probably was not a very fresh bottle. Thought Kostritzer was excellent the one time I had it, so will be avidly looking for it in cans. Smoke and Dagger and Baba are definitely on my wish list too.

 

For those who asked, Franconian Dunkel is generally a bit drier and a bit more herbal than a so-called Munich Dunkel. Just a general observation based on experience and not a hard-and-fast rule. We emphasize Franconian so we don't give the impression that our Dunkles is necessarily malty-sweet. The slight roast and bready characters mimic more of the Czech dark beers. Anyhow, it's a tasty combination. Prost!

 

I used to be all about this style, and if I can find fresh options, I still am. These are two of my favorites, at least they were in the past when I could find them:

Ettaler Kloster Dunkel
Hirter Morchl

I'm not touching the minutiae of the style distinctions with a ten foot pole, but I do find the discussion curious.