#12beers of Beercember Kostritzer Schwarzbier review
Hello and welcome to day three of Nathanial Squares #12beers event. Today’s featured brew is… Well to heck with the build up you probably already read it in the title. Besides it’s not easy to spell.
I had no idea what to expect from this beer before this review so I tweeted a question to the rest #12beers gang to see what they thought of it. The answers I got back included: Good, Bad, Bitter, Earthy, and not as good as Saranac’s Black Lager. Well, that didn’t help a whole lot other than to tell me it’s a Black Lager, which I am becoming a fan of. Cool, so lets see what have we here…
Kostritzer Schwarzbier is indeed a black lager, from Germany. It pours nearly pitch black with about a finger’s worth of beige head. It smells or roasted malts and nuts. The taste is rich, malty but surprisingly understated. I expected a bolder flavor from the smell of it. I find notes of coffee, roasted barley, perhaps some cocoa, but again none of that comes through n the flavor as strong as the smell.
I find the earthiness that @allisonshine23 described to be there in the finish but it turns into a bit of a metallic taste after swallowed. @trillian1117 agrees that it’s a good brew until the aftertaste.
So far my favorite beer of this style is the Sprecher Black Bavarian, which is produced here in Wisconsin, The Saranac mentioned by @tryfailtry is also a great beer. It seems that once again the American Craft Brew movement has taken a classic European brew and improved upon it. This beer only serves to make me want a Black Bavarian.
Again Using the happy time magic hour rating system I have to rate this beer a 2/5. I’d probably put it at a three if the earthy/metallic taste wasn’t there in the finish, but sadly I find it there in every pull.
Well we knew they wouldn’t all be above average, right? Merry Beercember, and remember bad beer is still better than no beer. ;-)
