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.
Mild, yet complex, hybridized schwarzbier brings modestly lingering strawberry affectations to smooth black chocolate creaming, dried cocoa supplement and honeyed wheat spine. Fresh wild strawberries sweeten tertiary raspberry-blackberry-blueberry-boysenberry tartness. At mocha-sugared strawberry finish, Devil’s food cake, strawberry shortcake and fudgy strawberry brownie illusions come alive.
One of the better Czech-styled black lagers. Black patent-like Vienna malting and dark-roasted barley-oats graining gain mild chocolate sweetness, retaining light-bodied crisping to the delightful mocha finish.
Masterfully hybridized dark lager (named after devilish rocker John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne) is a cut above the rest of most so-called German-styled schwarzbiers. Resonating ‘white’ Ethiopian coffee roast pleasantly inundates light dry-hopped bittering and dark-roasted mocha malting. Milked espresso, cocoa bean and toffee subsidies wispily affect persuasively bittersweet creamed coffee theme. Perfect for light-roast coffee fanatics as a seductive after dinner relaxant.
Fine black lager (or dry schwarzbier) brings cola nuttiness to light cocoa malting and heavenly brown chocolate midst. Dark spicing fades early, but ethereal honey nut roast sweetens ancillary fig, date and praline illusions. Nicely contrasts brewers’ initial summer brew.
Lackluster premium Guinness for the unrefined masses only. First off, mired Irish schwarzbier should be canned instead of bottled so aeration could properly activate yeast. Secondly, washed-out grain roasting, ashen chocolate wretchedness, and slick hop-charred bittering turn plastic by faux-nutty freeze-dried coffee finish.
Blandly watered down schwarzbier styling stays soapy, indecisive and indistinct. Washed out chocolate malting and dirty peat soiling cloak oily coffee drear. Peat mossy bottom goes flat.
Amiable brown-bodied schwarzbier in pudgy brown bottle brings dewy rye-breaded molasses-smoked malting to dry black-purple grape souring, moldy fig-date-raisin astringency, reedy hop-charred cola-pecan-macadamia nuttiness and sneaky black cherry snips. Latent bourbon hints gain foothold above brown-sugared chocolate roast and earthen peat bottom.