Dark Lager Tasting (May 13-15)

Von Trapp Vienna Lager.



Light amber with 1.5" white head, lasts. Moderate lacing.
Aroma is floral, lemon, caramel, spice, grass.
Taste is earthy, lemon, slight pepper, caramel.
Has a medium body with lively carbonation. Dry finish.
Another good one from the Von Trapp variety pack.

 

Leinenkugel's Dark Lager:

Not a lot of selection of dark lagers here in the midwest prairie (I'm traveling for work), but they did have Leinie's Dark Lager (formerly Creamy Dark), which I have enjoyed in the past.

My review from January 9, 2007, a 3.48:
Appearance: Dark brown with a moderate head.
Smell: Smells sweet, a little chocolate.
Taste: Sweet and malty, a little roasted flavor but not much bitterness.
Mouthfeel: Uh...creamy, possibly?
Drinkability: Easy to drink with enough flavor to keep you interested.
My dad gave me three of these, and it's probably my favorite Leinie's. Different enough from the norm to keep me interested.

Today's review:
Appearance: Clear, dark brown, good head.
Smells roasty and nutty.
Taste: Some sweetness to start then some mild nut flavor, kind of loses steam and then turns a bit astringent. Light to moderate body and feel.
Probably 2.75 to a 3 overall now.

I know my taste buds have changed in the past 15 years, and Leinie's probably has changed this beer in some fashion in that time, but I was pretty disappointed today. This was kind of an under-the-radar gem 10-15 years ago (I probably last had it 10 years ago), but today's version misses the mark for me.

 

Great review. You made me smell it, taste it and want it!

 

I'm having the same beer compliments of @woodychandler

Pour Man's Brewing
Tmavé Pivo
16oz undated can poured into a becher glass at just above fridge temp, no ABV listed on label. The beer pours opaque medium brown with light brown head. The head recedes to a thin ring and a few islands of head. Minimal lacing. The aroma is dark chocolate, licorice, and slight nuttiness. The taste is bittersweet roasted malt with coffee like notes up front before the dark chocolate and lighter malt notes hit on the finish. The bitterness here is roasted malt bitterness like you would get in a big RIS, with no real hop expression. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with just less that average carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, good. Definitely not a typical dark Czech lager nor a typical dark lager of any sort. It's different, it works, but it defies any set style.

Likely my last entry for the weekend as I'm not willing to buy aging four packs locally. Thanks to @FBarber for hosting. Cheers all!

 

B. United brings it in each year. Excluding draft, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve completely switched from bringing in bottles to bringing it in the tanker (and canning it). Stores in my immediate area tend to not carry B United products though - so I haven’t been seeing it for that reason.

 

Sounds like your thoughts mirror mine. I'm enjoying these a lot, but I should be on the lookout for more authentic examples of the style.

 

Good morning BAs. I split a can of this schwarzbier yesterday with my friends at the pub knowing I had a 2nd can at home. This morning’s breakfast beer - “Chasing Night” by Common Roots Brewing Company, South Glens Falls, NY:



Opaque black with ruby edges body; tan creamy mixed bubbles head; ok to good cap retention; heavy ring; some soapy lace. Nose is roast malt; chocolate malt. Entry is mild bitter roast malt; subtle dark chocolate. Medium full; moderate carbonation; no harshness; dry finish. Overall a very pleasant easy drinking beer; mildly roasty notes with overtones of chocolate are tasty; very light bitter linger from roast. I would gladly drink more of this beer.

4.0 | 4.25 |4.50 | 4.25 | 4.25
Score: 4.34 rDev +10.2%

A style I rarely drink, but enjoy it when I do. Thanks for another tasting weekend. Cheers BAs!

 

Waldmann: Franconian Landbier 5.2% ABV, Drank from a 750ml Crowler last night.
Along side of it I sipped on a 11.2 oz bottle of Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel just as a style/flavor comparison more than a head to head. I took my time drinking these beers. Both of them tasted best on the warm side.

Franconian Landbier:
Look: Medium brown body. But had a reddish tint when held to the light. Maybe unfiltered since it was slightly murky. Nice tall lite tan fine head that stuck around for while leaving just a little lacing.
Smell: toasted grainy bread
Taste: toasted grainy bread, caramel, maybe a little nut, then a little lite roast about 3/4 of the way thru. The finish was the odd part, it changed with temp. When cold it was dry, more bitter with a hint of rye. When warmer the finish became less bitter, less dry and had a hint of spice different than rye. It was rather smooth, slightly sweet overall. But the Barock Dunkel was smoother and sweeter.
fell was good, not thin or thick, just slightly malty, low carbonation once the pour settle down.

It was good, I will give it a 3.93/5 overall. Which style of beer does it fit into? A dunkel, but it does have some bock traits.

https://untappd.com/b/waldmann-brewery-franconian-landbier/4337053
https://waldmannbrewery.com/the-beer-2/

 

Yeah, our taste buds 'react' differently with changing temperature.

And as you noted later, as the beer 'opens up' there is decreasing carbonation level which impacts taste/flavor perception as well.

Cheers!

 

I unknowingly walked in a May Day party at Wooly Pig Farm Brewery. Drinking a Schwarzbier. Smooth and delicious with light chocolate flavor and a touch of smoke.

 

Sounds like something for "show yourselves BA's"....

 

Beer #3 for me is a German Dunkel. In fact, the #10 Munich Dunkel style on this site, behind 2 other German breweries and 7 American (which perhaps is influenced by a combination of fresh vs not-so-fresh with a fair does of localism, but nevermind …). In any event, I admire most beers from Ayinger, but this is a new one for me. So, let's see.

Ayinger Old Bavarian Dark (or, in German, Altbairisch Dunkel)
ABV: 5.0%
IBU: 21

Date code: L1258 (Sep 15, 2021), so firmly in the "not-so-fresh" camp. Sad, but a fact of life for most European imports around here.

Clear dark amber-reddish-brown body. Moderately carbonated with small bubbles rising to a thick off-white 1 inch head from a gentle pour.

From the aroma I get caramel, toasted malts, and dark fruit.

The flavor starts with toasted bready malts and dark fruit from the aroma. Toffee. A bit of spice. It's light and yet malty. Malty and yet not overly sweet. Very well balanced and tasty. The finish is lightly bitter with a touch of astringency.

The body is moderate to thin.

Overall, a tasty, malty, and well balanced dunkel.

L: 4.25 | S: 4.0 | T: 4.25 | F: 3.5 | O: 4.0 | Rating: 4.07

 

For this tasting, I decided I wouldn't post about individual beers, but rather, I wanted to do a large series of blind tastings to feature beers that weren't dark lagers... to see if they could be identified as such. I will not be making any detailed reactions nor ranking beers.

For the first tasting, I compared Modelo Especial with Modelo Negra, and added a Hofbrau Dunkel for contrast. There has been talk that Modelo Negra was modeled after Dunkels, so the HB was a good fit. Is the Negra essentially the Especial but with coloring agents added to the mix... or would there be a noticeable character malt presence? I was not seeing the color of these beers in the blind tasting.

All three beers were identifiable by taste. The HB was the fullest and had the most malt character. When comparing the HB Dunkel to US craft Dunkels, the HB always comes across as having a far more subtle malt character. In this context, it's the opposite. It also tasted old even though it was only 4.5 months old.

Negra was easy, a bit angular, had a corn taste and a subtle maltiness without a strong roasty character. The Especial came across as quite different. It was crisper, more bitter, and had a stronger corn flavor. It also had an unpleasant earthy character. In the end, to me it seemed like the Negra was brewed with dark malts that impacted the flavor.

 

Here's a dark Czech lager from Edmunds Oast

Special Dark
Poured brown with a half finger tan head. Partial surface ring with spotty lacing.
Strong stone fruit and bread yeast aromas.
Fruity hops, pears, light cocoa, light malt flavors
Lower carbonation, nice bitter aftertaste.
Count on Edmunds Oast to put out a variety of lagers.

 

For the next blind tasting, I wanted to compare a Shiner Bock with a Miller High Life. Once again, I added a HB Dunkel for contrast. To me, Shiner Bock always came across as pretty close to a typical AAL, so I wanted to put it to the test here. I did this once before but the Shiner Bock was too weak compared to the pale lager I used. For this tasting, I chose a Miller High Life because it's carbs, calories, and ABV stats were very close to Shiner's. I also felt that its flavor profile would be pretty close as well.

I won't bother discussing the HB beer other than to say it was clearly identifiable. The other two beers were easy and light. Shiner Bock had extremely little character. It had no edges. There was the slightest hint of dark malt. High Life had more of the sweet adjunct lager corn taste and a toasty finish. It had more character than Shiner.

In the end, I could identify which was which because I am familiar enough with the character of High Life. If I did not have this familiarity, I might have misidentified them. I don't think Shiner Bock has a character that would really distinguish it as something different from a pale AAL.

 

Very cool, I like when breweries resurrect the pre-prohibition ingredients for lagers, pils, etc...

Great Central is a contract brewery, both for established breweries and also for collaborations with bars (or for bar house brands). You may have had their beers unknowingly before, including widely distributed beers by Maplewood, Begyle, Pollyanna, and other Chicago area breweries.

They also have a state of the art Rolec brewery system, brew over 30,000 barrels a year, and release several German style beers under their own brand name. Here is a video review of their Festbier.



Hope this stacks up well against my personal Best in Class Munich Dunkel (Brauerei Hirt Hirter Morchl)

Great Central Brewing Dunkel



Link to a full review in the New Beer Weekend thread.

This beer is just over five months old, purchased refrigerated at the Beer Temple. 16 ounces, 5% ABV, 15 IBU, $9.91 with tax for the four pack (or $2.48 per can). The style is listed in BA as Munich Dunkel.

Overall, this is a solid offering, nice hops presence balances out the bread, barley and malt flavors. Dry and slightly bitter overall. Wondering whether the five months have muted the hops, or if refrigeration kept this beer fresh throughout.

Slightly lower overall score (3.75 vs. 4.25) than my current standard bearer in the style, Hirter Morchl, reviewing the tasting notes I would note the primary differences include a stronger flavor, with my beloved rye and pumpernickel featured in the German import. Not familiar enough with the style to determine which one is truer. That said, I have enjoyed both, and I am glad I have three more to ponder further over the next month or so.

Have a German import to complete the tasting planned for tomorrow.

Prost!

 

Chris, in past threads I coined the term AAAL (American Amber Adjunct Lager) and personally categorize Shiner Bock as being an AAAL. Needless to say but from an appearance perspective, Shiner Bock looks noticeably different from a beer such as MHL but I agree that flavor wise the difference is not as great. I personally pick up some caramel sweetness when drinking Shiner Bock but that is from drinking the beer non-blind so perhaps there is some appearance bias in play here?

Cheers!

 

Below is how this beer is described on Tired Hands’ website:

“Trendler Doppelbock

A tribute to our favorite strong lagers from Bavaria. This one, our first run at this monastic style, is built from a plethora of German malts and hopped lightly with Hallertau Mittelfrüh. Fermented extra cool with our house Lager strain, and stored cold for roughly 3 months. Notes of medium toast, cantaloupe, light pecan, concord grape and toffee 7.5%”

Wow! Three months of lagering is quite a commitment towards producing this beer!

Served in my Spiegelau Lager glass:

Appearance:

Deep amber colored with a BIG khaki colored head.

Aroma:

A prominent combination of aromas – dark bread (akin to pumpernickel), toffee, something that hints of sweetness.

Taste:

The flavor follows the nose with the assortment of flavors from dark bread, toffee and yes some sweetness. A low/moderate bitterness.

Mouthfeel

Light/medium bodied with an off-dry finish.

Overall

The flavor profile is very good and it is a smooth drinking beer. For my palate this beer would have benefitted from a bit more body.

Cheers