On tap at Seven Lakes Station, unsweetened cocoa nibs and carob-powdered nuttiness consume medium-bodied black lager. At the midst, dry black patent malt bittering brings day-old coffee remnant as mild Noble hop char singes leathery dried fruited swipe.
Lightly smoked dark chocolate bittering enjoins freeze-dried coffee sourness and distant earthen mossing for silken black-malted schwarzbier. Stylishly OK.
On tap at Growler & Gill, heavy coconut-chocolate infusion and milk-sugared vanilla sweetness embellish off-beat hybridized schwarzbier. Usually a tediously nebulous black lager style never as worthily profound as a permier porter-stout, Singlecut’s heightened schwarz proves to be one step ahead of the dull pack in terms of distinct flavor profiling. Its coconut-chocolate-vanilla aspirations invite lovely gingerbread, sarsaparilla, cinnamon and toffee illusions to join the malt-roasted party. “A unique spin” on a German black beer. In the can, sweet coconut-chocolate enclave receives dryer Black Patent malt bittering, coffee-dried nut char and cocoa powdered chalking.
On tap at Ambulance (and named after a popular children’s picture book), dewy fig-spiced black lager malting provides fine initial impression for scaled-up German-styled schwarzbier. Bittersweet chocolate-seeded toffee spell quickly conquered by latent coffee-roasted burnt breading. Much neglected black lager category well served by this rangy moderate-medium body.
On tap at A Better Place, seamless schwarzbier utilizes dehusked black malts to set up chalky black chocolate malting and ashen cocoa-dried bittering for nutty hop char. Blackened mocha richness gains latent black grape, black currant and Blackstrap molasses illusions.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead – Hoboken, beechwood-smoked barley roast deepens dark chocolate malting, black licorice licks and candied toffee nicety. Peppery citrus nip fills the backend.
On tap at Brick House Tavern – Plano, eager-to-please schwarzbier leaves rich dark-roasted mocha trail. Black patent-malted chocolate and coffee tones enjoin earthen peat dewiness and ancillary fig-date snips as its burnt toast spine develops firmness.
On tap at Ambulance, vague dark-roasted mocha malting, mild peat musk and lightly spiced dried fruiting lack resilience. But understated chocolate-cocoa passage gains traction.
On tap at Ambulance, aimless one-time collaboration with New York’s Finback puts the proverbial ‘lime in the coconut’ but leaves very little drupe influence upon limey grape-stemmed tannins. Musky dry hop bittering and ashen tobacco overwhelm any bitter coconut watering.
‘Elegant’ jet-black dark lager places mildly creamed dark-roast mocha and carafa malts atop molasses-breaded grain toasting and laid-back hop char. Bittersweet dark chocolate, coffee, cocoa and cola nut illusions swirl across the midst. Unlike lesser Bavarian schwarzbiers, there is no nastily plastique black malt astringency to attack its fine mocha setting. Serve to lighter porter-stout thirsts.
On tap at Doherty’s, cask conditioned black lager integrates light and dark roasted Red Barn coffee with soured lemon rind bittering and wispy yellow grapefruit peel subtlety. Hickory-singed hop char aids polite bitterness of soft-toned burnt coffee finish.
Fabulous vanilla-spiced schwarzbier proves to be extraordinary hybrid. Christmastime cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice seasoning enjoins bittersweet raisin-fig conflux before settling into brown-sugared pumpkin pie finish. Along the way, sour soy-sauced brown chocolate malting encounters imposing gingerbread sweetness just above the earthen peat base.
