Dark Lager Tasting (May 13-15)

Czech Dark Lager Hades Corpses is a KCBC collab with Wild East, one of the finest lager makers I know. It is dry, soft, and roasty with a slight hint of chocolate in the aftertaste.

 

This is another amazing lager from schilling I love the roasty flavor this one has.

 

If you have any of their “Original” sitting around you gotta try the below. I still love this blend. It’s even better than a Yuengling Black & Tan.

 

Sadly too busy for a proper contribution to such an interesting theme, but even if I´d have loved to feast on some favorite styles from that part of the world through the weekend (and put them against each other), somehow managed to get a couple of schwarzbiers on Friday.



Added some ham, stewed beef and Thuringian sausages to the mix, which is as decadent as seemingly appropriated for schwarzbier, and worked wonders.

Kaiserdom Dark Lager

Always thought of this brewery as some kind of Franconian 'industrial' black sheep, and remember being tempted to ask the Bamberg experts about it when their kellerbier was showing around in the past. Dark has only 10 days left, and while the expectations are not really high I am more than OK at trying.

The beer is pitch black with just the slightest of browns in the margins, and looks actually great in the Willi with a beautifully rich and dense frothy head and excellent retention all along.



The clean dark malts with a roasty hint and chocolate are nice in the nose if a bit muted, but a second bottle on Saturday brought in some 'dirtier' Franconian notes (dirty being good here) in the form of deep and fresh pumpernickel and other forms of cheesy rusticness. * I don´t ask for schwarzbiers to show very expressive aromas as I´d do with an English porter for instance, and think my sweet spot with them happens when they are not too warm, which doesn´t help the aromas.

I can´t wait to have a first long sip, as the food has put me in the right mood and I´m thirsty as fuck.

It starts with a kind of airy creaminess being followed by a slight roast and some hints of bitter chocolate, but I do specially love the way the rich dark malts develope after that along with the moderate bitterness biting the upper palate. Wonderful, never too sweet, and tastier as you drink further. Licorice in the creamy aftertaste, etc, but this is all about the malts and the balance more than descriptors.

The feel is entangled with the taste in its balance: Rather 'thin to medium' but still a rich experience; creamy, moderately biting with a spot on carbonation, and immensebly quaffable. A pleasure to drink, and as good an example of how a schwarzbier should feel as any, I think.

It went down in seconds literally, and was really satisfying in all senses and against all odds.

4.5-4.25-4.5-4.75-4.5


Das Schwarze

This brewery shows around often (schwarze and helles) and I´ve had their beers a few times, but yet don´t have a proper idea/memory of them and won´t care to look at past reviews. They´re from Stuttgart, which is not exactly the center of schwarzbierland as far I am concerned. The beer expires in February 2023 though, and I am all in.

Again a beautiful black, but both the head quality and retention are significantly worst than the Kaiserdom.




Fresh German dark bread, roasted breadcrumbs and grassy hop in the nose, with also chocolate as it settles. Not really expressive and a bit muted again, but still quite nice.

A decent herbal hop bite carries the beer since the start along with the malts towards a chocolaty finish and a grassy/licorice aftertaste. I need to adjust as the sip developes quite diferently than the Kaiserdom did, even if they share the components; there is a good balance and the main actors are expressive enough, but for some reason I don´t find it particularly exciting even at my best mood.

It doesn´t feel really thin but still quite flat and watery, as the not so good looks suggested. A bit like drinking cola without sugar and carbonation, plus there is not even a tiny ring by the end of the pint. And this was by far the freshest of the two beers. Not really claiming this was a 'bad bottle', but still dissapointing.

The malts are decent enough and the hops are showing, but while I tried hard to be it good this is not rival to the first beer imo. Average.

3.5-4.25-3.75-3.25-3.75

Overall the fricking second/third tier from Bamberg wins by a landslide, even if playing with a significant disadvantage. To the point I passed on your average Kozels, Pragas and Baviera dunkels (and I love them) on Saturday, and went for a couple more Kaiserdoms instead.

*My* idea of schwarzbier as a style is one of a less complex beer -in some senses- than dunkel (Munich or not) and even cerny, but not necessarily less satisfying or easy to make well. Always felt some kind of kick/attachment to the 'style' after Kostrizer, and I am possibly not the only one thinking that we need more brilliant examples of the roasty thirst-quencher goodness.

 

OK, my second and last dark lager from the Czech Republic.

Samson 1795 Czech Dark Lager
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: NA

500ml green bottle with the label code of L2021145. The optimistic decoding of that is May 26, 2021 (Lyyyyddd). The store sold this as singles, so no huge commitment in either money or left-overs in the ’fridge.

Clear dark body. Dark ruby-red with a back-light showing moderate carbonation. 1 inch off-white to light tan head from a gentle pour. The head is thick and creamy with moderate retention, receding evenly keeping a flat surface and leaving a short sheet of lacing just above the receding head. Attractive strings of lacing are left on the side of the glass as I drink.

Toasted bread aroma. The bread reminds me a bit of pumpernickel, but it’s not quite strong enough to call it that for sure. Seems slightly sweet.

The flavor is stronger on the pumpernickel bread, along with slight sweetness, perhaps a bit of spice. The middle picks up a bit of a metallic twang that carries through to the finish and the aftertaste, which becomes even more prominent as the beer warms. The finish and aftertaste also develops some sweetness that reminds me of caramel. The overall balance is good and the flavor from beginning to finish would be pleasant and enjoyable were it not for the metallic aspect.

The body is on the thin side of moderate with a fairly flat feel.

Overall, it could be enjoyable, especially the spicy pumpernickel toast, but the flavor suffers quite a bit from the metallic character that lingers in my mouth.

L: 4.0 | S: 3.75 | T: 3.5 | F: 3.5 | O: 3.5 | Rating: 3.59

PS: As I down the last bit of this beer, I'm thinking the above is overrating it... I'm glad I didn't have to buy multiple.

 

Sounds tasty! I'll have to pick some up just to try it.

 

BTW, I posted earlier about who actually brews the Praga and Samson beers. According to the bottle labels, both of the versions imported into the USA were brewed by the Samson brewers.

And, here are the two bottle caps from the beers I had for this tasting:



Are their breweries in the Czech Republic both owned by AB-Inbev?

It's a mystery.

 

If this isn’t a proper contribution then I don’t know what is.

 

Haha, thank you. Ok, good enough considering I am facing two deadlines this week, but dark lagers is huge -even if we put it them down to the 'big three'- and I would have liked to go bigger with this one.

Also I´ve been very generous with the Kaiserdom; it is not some kind of overlooked whale by any means but more of a decent macro hitting the spot last Friday (actually the goal isn´t it).

*I will read you all as things calm down around here, some fresh dark lager around. Thanks @FBarber

 

Not sure if the recipe changed when the label was updated, but the smoke is now almost not noticeable which makes this beer smoother and even more enjoyable than ever.

 

I went really big for it, but your one post was better than all of mine.

 

This one from NBS BIF @FBarber . Goldfinger Zlotonator Doppelbock. Canned on 2/22/22. Awesome stuff. Lasting fluffy head retention and thick foamy lacing. Aromas and flavors of big brown sugar, brown bread/crust, toast, biscuit, nuttiness; lighter notes of cocoa, coffee, molasses, dark fruit, herbal, wood, grass, pepper, and yeast earthiness. Light-moderate pine, herbal, woody, grassy, roasted bitterness on the finish. Medium-plus carbonation and body. Very creamy/bready/grainy malts, some sticky hops and light resins in the mouthfeel. Long lingering bitter drying finish, no cloying/astringent flavors. Very clean lager flavors, with very restrained yeast fruitiness. Great rich melanoidin/Munich/roasted malt showcase with balancing noble hops. Mild increasing warmth of 7.5% after the finish. Spot on style all the way. 4.13

Cheers

 

Poured dark mahogany with a light brown head that dissipated but left lots of lacing.
The aroma was very mild for me, damaged sniffer, but I did get some coffee, both rich and bitter. Good, perplexed but impressed.
The taste was really different. Gruit makes a noticeable difference in the dark lager genre. Almost nutty along with the chocolate and coffee centric malts.
The feel is ideal for the style, and the carbonation never quite ends.
Good beer!

Great lacing too!

 

Now for my final beer of the weekend. This one is merely labeled by the brewer as simply a dark lager. I think the brewer has called the beer a dunkel in the past.

Indeed Loretta's Dark Lager
ABV: 5.6%
IBU: 24

Clear dark amber body, well carbonated. Thick 1½ inch head that sticks around for a long time, receding slowly with an uneven, pitted surface and thick lacing.

The aroma is weak, but good. Baked bread, chocolate, vague fruit.

The flavor is toasty melanoidins, nutty, chocolate, and caramel initially all of which carry through into the finish. The beginning taste starts slightly sweet, but this dries out substantially by the end, resulting in a relatively dry finish with slight hints of bitterness adding to the aftertaste. The aftertaste is pleasant with the aforementioned flavors lingering and a creamy chocolaty smoothness in my mouth.

Medium body with a smooth to slightly drying and yet creamy mouth feel.

Overall, a nicely put together dark lager. Plenty of malty flavor to keep me interested and the dry-ish finish wants another.

Whether it's claimed by the brewer as simply a dark lager or a dunkel, I enjoyed it.

L: 4.25 | S: 3.75 | T: 4.25 | F: 4.0 | O: 3.75 | Rating: 4.01