The beer itself pours smooth, with a strong dark look to it. As I said in the video, the head didn't overly impress me, but I don't have much experience with these beers, and my pour might have been off (I'm still new at this!). The smells were earthy and pleasant, actually - indicative of the taste. The first sip tasted like coffee, truth told. Strong black coffee that'd been left to sit out for a little bit. It wasn't all together unpleasant. Actually, being a coffee guy, I kind of enjoyed the taste. Further sips revealed a subtle sweetness to it much like it's primary competitor Guinness.
Honestly, this was a strong yet appealing drink. The scent, the taste, the lacing, most everything about this beer was satisfactory. As I finished the drink more of the bitterness started to come out, giving a flavor to it that was just as earthy as my first sniff of it. It's these flavors that come out later that make black lagers low on my list of refreshing drinks, so it became a little harder to finish as I went on, but I downed the whole bastard like I promised I would.
Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who likes macrobrews in league with Guinness. It's fun and flavorful, and definitely lives up to what a Black Lager should be.
Stay tuned later for a little history on Samuel Adams and maybe some info to come on this particular breed of brew. As always, if you have any suggestions email them to me at brewyear@gmail.com
Love the facial expressions after the first drink.
ReplyDeleteA lot of dark beers like stout have a kind of toasty flavor that is coffee-esque in nature, so I suppose that something like a black lager (a black lager??) would have that, too. Good post!
ReplyDeleteAre you going to review cruddy beer, too, for the lulz?
ReplyDeleteYour face after the first drink was not very convincing.
ReplyDeleteGood job, though. I'm impressed.
Om nom beer.
ReplyDeleteThat looked like a lot of fun. I feel like I'm going to learn things from this project.
ReplyDelete