Efficient water-softened lager tethers roasted barley-oats persistence to mild nutty follow-up above wheat breaded spine. Respectable easy drinking medium body with well-rounded conventional flavoring. Brewery defunct: 1999.

The first Lithuanian beer imbibed (circa ’07) has 4.8% alcohol strength, muted barley waft, soapy grain malts, and hearty brown ale-like mocha nuttiness. Soft citric hop zest provides additional depth to creamy honey-roasted finish.

Indecisive deep maroon-bodied soft beige-headed dark lager (caught betwixt less resilient rauchbier and styptic Schwarzbier) drapes beechwood-smoked malts across suspect chocolate-anise bitterness, losing glazed ham and cured meat illusions as sharp-tongued phenol hop char increases. Ashy earthen astringency, wavered cocoa-fig sourness, and roasted nut harshness deplete marble rye hints.

Peculiar seim-flat maroon-hued moderate body remindful of sweet milk stout brings syrupy maple smokiness to dry cigar leaf pleasantry, rain-drenched charred redwood spell, and dry pulp tinge. Thin watery finish depletes brown sugar caress and tar-like backdrop. Don’t be fooled by its beautiful chocolate aromatics. Creamy caramel-chocolate center gets overbearingly cloy, ruining relaxing mood. Also sold as Cuzco Dark Peruvian Lager.

Broad-ranging reddish amber Bavarian posts dry roasted frontage, fruited malt midst, and deep port resilience. Tangy cherry-berry-currant reinforces orange peel bitterness as blackened whiskey seeps distant burnt wood tone.

Yummy caramelized malt sweetness of unheralded medium-bodied lager nearly as worthy as godsend San Miguel Dark. Soft chocolate creaminess, light maple sapping, and vanilla bean hints create subtle milk stout illusion by transient Kahlua-like finish.

Cascading brownish tan bubbles provide nice visual accessory while pouring frothy-headed ruby-maroon Schwarzbier. Way too slick on the blanched backend (and a tad phenol besides) to recommend to serious dark lager admirers. Yet chalky nuttiness, black chocolate coarseness, fig-licorice twinge and evasive blackened wood bitterness nearly make up for poor cardboard finish.

Strange, a dark beer with an Irish moniker in a green bottle from Poland. Fleeting sour fig-prune acridity expelled by coarse nuttiness. Walnut, cola nut, and hazelnut bring bittersweet bite to dry hop-charred grain-roasted chocolate malts. Slight molasses refuge deepens resinous ash backslide.

White grape-wafted oaken tannic dryness and soured plum pungency give prune-clouded dunkelweizen lager its bitter resolve. Thick acridity overwhelms lazy wheat serenity of vinous peculiarity.

Astringent mocha scent turns acidic on the tongue, upsetting quickly fading roasted nuttiness of cola-flowing lager. Closer to weak, indistinct brown ale. Brewery defunct: 2006.

Luminescent chestnut-hued dark brew counters lighter Heineken Lager’s astringent bitterness by straying from typical yeast-soured hop pungency characteristic of most Dutch brews. Pleasing sweet caramel nose leads to roasted barleymalt mouthfeel dominating sweet ‘n sour chocolate, cocoa, and coffee. But timid finish and fizzy assertion block much-needed grain inertia.

In the 1970s, Lowenbrau and Beck’s were thankfully imported into a dire U.S. macrobrew market, but when Miller took over the formula for American consumption, flavor and strength dissipated. It has now lost its edge to more authentic microbrews. The American version lacked complexity. As for the bubbly-headed Swiss variety, mildly bitter hop nose detected amongst dark malt pungency and clammy sour vegetal sag. Try instead the creamier, tangier imported version from Germany on tap for a four star adventure.