German Schwarzbier

Duck Rabbit out of NC makes a good one, but it's hard to find.
Seems like even in NC all that's ever seen is their Amber

 

I love schwarzbier, but they are hard to find. I’ve only reviewed 14. My top 5:
1)Sprecher Black Bavarian Style Lager
2)Duck Rabbit Schwarzbier
3)Perrin Black Goat
4)Elysian Dark Knife
5)Urban Chestnut Black Lager

Only 2 of those are even distributed in my area.

 

Industrial Arts put out a winter seasonal in the style that was amazing. Wish the style was more readily available. Here too it is limited at best.

 

Pipeworks Schwarzbier and the Bell's/Deschutes collaboration are some of the best beers I have had so far this year. Very well executed examples of this style.

 

As to the more commonly available ones, does anybody have a good read on the Westbrook? I've been seeing that one around lately.

 

No, I have never seen that beer (I was not even aware of it).

I saw in the link you provided:

"This beer is also very popular in combination with pale beer called “a cut beer”."

Have you ever blended a Tmavý Ležák with a pale beer (e.g., Bohemian Pilsner)? If so, how was it?

Cheers!

 

Hmm, maybe I should discuss a blend of my homebrewed Tmavý Ležák and homebrewed Bohemian Pilsner in an upcoming New Beer Sunday thread?

Cheers!

 

I have never had the Full Sail or Magic Hat. Sam Adams was kind of meh for me, a step above that is the Deschutes and Bells collaboration of Schwarzbier. It is mighty tasty!

 

Kostritzer always hits the spot; otherwise, we have Eddyline's (Buenavista, CO) Jolly Roger black lager, and farther afield, always love when Dovetail (Chicago) has some close-to version of a dark lager.

 

Which Beer World? Monticello also sells cans and bottles of various offerings, plus it's only about 15 minutes away from the brewery anyway.

 

Perhaps. More likely the wholesale distributor stopped carrying it. But that may not have been the distributor's choice; Wikipedia says in 2008 Herold Brewery (pivovar) "once again under Czech control when Ballena a.s. bought out the American owners." It may be that with the ownership change they stopped exporting this beer to the U.S.

 

My experience mirrors yours. I had Smoke & Dagger on tap recently (for the first time in a while... and always from the bottle in the past), and the smoke character seemed much bigger to me. I figured it was a freshness issue or my palate that day, but seeing your post makes me wonder. If the recipe is the same, then the X factor could have been the age of the smoked malt used. I believe this can be problematic for brewers who use it.

@TongoRad @JackHorzempa

 

Just had one of these!!