German Schwarzbier

I agree with this. It isn't a beer I drank a ton of, but I'd bring back bottles from New England and Denver would get drops for GABF week. I feel like that beer went from having a tiny bit of smoke nuance (that you might not even pick-up) to having very obvious smoky notes. Not a rauchbier by any stretch, but the smoke become unmistakable.

 

Yeah, that's a completely different direction then. But feel free to message me if you ever do decide to do a weekend or day in the Monticello area- other things to do now include Bethel Woods, the water park and casino, trout fishing in Roscoe, etc.

Interesting. My own speculation would be that maybe they were pulling their punches in the beginning, but now that the beer has a following they can up the smoke a bit. Or perhaps they're doing it to offset for when it's served on nitro and the flavors get dulled.

 

How would you describe the differences between the two styles?

 

I've seen the Colbitzer but I've never bought the Schwarzbier because I thought the Pils was so bad when I bought it the first time I saw them.

Maybe I'll need to go give them another shot.

Not a Schwarzbier but I liked Back Pew's blue corn pilsner.

And I enjoyed Stesti's dark lager which is supposed to be a Czech style dark lager.

 

Or if it isn't a recipe change, perhaps their production volumes of this particular beer have gone up in recent years... so they're purchasing greater volumes of smoked malt and the result is fresher smoked malt due to increased turnaround at the supplier and better buying power. Separate from that, I've also heard of batch inconsistencies with smoked malt. I'm shooting from the hip.

 

Chris, I too have heard about this aspect - that smoked malt will 'diminish' with age. I have only brewed with smoked malt (Weyermann) a few times and the best I can report is that the malts I purchased 'worked' for my batches of beer.

I have no idea how sensitive smoked malts are to storage times (and storage conditions).

Cheers!

@telejunkie

 

good question, no concrete answer
refer to this thread:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/lets-talk-about-schwarzbier.564806/

 

Yeah, the simplest way I find of approaching it is that a German Schwarzbier has a more specific feel to it (with the roast malt playing accent to the Munich Malt) whereas the Czech beers have quite a bit of variability to them, from brown to black, wider gravity range, and even approaching porter levels of roastiness in some cases.

 

From my reading I believe it is fair to say that Czech beers of all styles have more variability as compared to German brewing.

It appears that German brewers are taught in brewing school that style x should meet a tight set of qualities/parameters. Not every German Pilsner is exactly the same but there is a tighter window there. In contrast it seems that Czech brewers feel free to follow their spirit more in brewing a given style of beer.

In the spectrum of Continental brewers from more structured to less structured I would suggest that German brewers are the most structured then the Czech brewers are moderately structured while Belgian brewers will do whatever they want with no big need to little adhere to a beer style definition (i.e., they feel free to just make beer).

Just my opinion/perspective here.

Cheers!

 

Good River's Gunny was excellent. I see that it had very little distribution or...?

 

Ha, you beat me to it. I was going to also say Moonlight Death and Taxes and the crazy old dude that makes it happen (love you Brian). I love this thread. Thanks for caring about a style that so many people blindly say, "oh it is dark so it is so thick and heavy." ARGH.

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22512/63797/

Yup, they make this beer which is listed as a "smoked beer" but is akin to Jack's Abby's Smoke and Dagger.

I think it's their winter seasonal? It's an excellent beer.

Count me as another who found little to no smoke in the bottles in years past and recently revisited it in cans to discover the smokiness amped WAY up.

I kind of like it.

But it's still not as smoky as "Fire in the Ham" by them.

I find both styles to be the German's and Czech's lager answer to the Irish Dry Stout.

I also find all three styles to be extremely sessionable and delicious.

 

I've always loved black lagers - tasty and refershing.

My favorites are ones I can't seem to find anymore: Xingu Black Beer and Saranac Black Forest.

My favorite German one is Hofbrauhaus Dunkel, and that one fortunately is still available.

They actually make two, Dunkel and Boch Bier. They're both good, I prefer the Dunkel.

 

If you can find Xingu Black Beer, get it. It's one of my favorite black lagers.

 

I just had some in cans and it was pretty smokey. Not quite Rouchbier, but definitely substantial.

 

As a homebrewer who has relied on your Brewing Classic Styles book many times, and has more often simply read it for pleasure and information, it's excellent to see you on this site and this thread. Cheers @jzainasheff.

 

I can't seem to find the Pipeworks Schwarzbier! Are they hiding it from me?

If you're in Chicago, but sure to check out Metropolitan Brewing's "Magnetron" Schwarzbier; it's my favorite beer out of all the ones they make (at least those they make regularly).

 

Nah. Hopefully they will bring it back.

 

Heavy Trommel may be one of the best beers I have had this year, and would fit the bill as a schwarzbier as well.

 

I haven't had many schwartz beers, but I'll stand by the Kulmbacher Monchshof that I ran across in Germany a few years ago. Not too many modern German beers of any style retain the full body and lasting aftertaste that this brew delivers. It reminds me of the imported Kulmbacher Klosterbock that I drank almost 50 years ago.