Notch Brewing (2020)

I’m admittedly not well versed in Schwarzbiers, but @eaglephile is spot on here with Schwarzbiers being roastier than Dunkels or Czech Dark Lagers.

I’ve always thought of Schwarzbiers as Germany’s answer to the Irish Dry Stout. Roasty, smooth, and sessionable. However one is a lager and the other an ale, so there’s certainly going to be differences.

Here’s a good, albeit generalized way of breaking these all down:

*Many are familiar with Oktoberfest, and how there’s two “styles” they see and drink each fall. An amber Oktoberfest, which many refer to as a Märzen. The other being a pale Oktoberfest, commonly referred to on here as a Festbier.

*We’ll ignore the debates about the actual names of these styles for the purpose of this discussion.

The lighter versions of these are a Helles and a Dunkel. The former using lighter German malts and Noble hops, the latter using darker German malts.

**In the Czech world, you have various styles based on color and original gravity. But for the purpose of this discussion, they are broken down into what most refer to as Czech Pale Lagers and Czech Dark Lagers. The former using lighter malts and typically Saaz hops, the latter, you guessed it, darker malts.

**I’ve seen German and Czech malts used in Notch’s Czech beers, and it’s an assumption on my part that Saaz would typically be used in the Czech styles. I’d also note there’s Czech Amber Lagers, but we’ll leave that discussion for another day.

Finally, as we already discussed, a Schwarzbier is a dark German lager like a Dunkel, but it has a much more pronounced roasted character to it and is a drier beer than a Dunkel.

This site does a good job in my opinion of breaking down the differences in dark lagers. It discusses Czech Dark Lagers, Munich Dunkels, Schwarzbiers, and even Baltic Porters (also technically dark lagers despite the name).

https://beerandbrewing.com/the-diverse-world-of-dark-lagers/

 

I don’t know if a Czech Dark Lager HAS to be black, but the names used for the styles would imply they do.

As I mentioned in the Jack’s Abby thread, Černé Pivo is Czech for "black beer" and Tmavý is Czech for "dark".

Czech styles are broken down into three large umbrellas. Czech Dark Lagers, Czech Pale Lagers, and Czech Amber Lagers. So if it’s amber in color it’s a different style. See Notch’s Polotmavý, which roughly translates to “half-dark”.

 

A couple key points I left out that I thought of last night.

Water chemistry is arguably the biggest contributor to differences between these similar German and Czech styles.

You'll notice Czech pale lagers for example may have higher IBUs than their German counterparts, the German Pilsner (I realize I said Helles in my earlier post, but both Helles and Pilsners are German "pale lagers"). But that German Pils will often seem hoppier, drier and crisper. This is due to the water. This is especially noticeable with Northern German Pilsners. Think Jever here. If you can find Jever fresh it's an excellent example of a Northern German Pils. I remember having Bitburger close to the source on draft, it was so fresh it was borderline IPA-level hoppy.

Have a Jever next to a Pilsner Urquell and you'll think you're drinking two completely different styles (I mean, you are, but technically they're both "Pilsners").

Pilsner Urquell for example is a whopping 40 IBUs, more than Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at 38! But if you had the two fresh side by side, you'd likely say the Pale Ale was hoppier. Czech Pilsners (pale lagers everywhere but Plzen) are hoppy when fresh, but the body is fuller and softer than a German Pils, and the hop perception is subdued compared to the Germans.

The other big contributor, if I recall correctly, is that the Czech's tend to use decoction mashing in their process far more than the Germans do today. Some German breweries still do, but many have ditched the process. Decoction mashing will have an impact on the malt profile, making it fuller and richer. Overall it will really bring out those bready melanoidin characteristics that make Notch's beers stand out in my opinion. Some will argue decoction mashing is unnecessary with today's malts...I would argue it does make a difference.