Schtudying Schwarzbier

I'd like to go back and make one correction.

Yeah, yeah, get it out of your system. You're not gonna see me say that, much.

So. I've been comparing Sunday's treat to Guinness, which I still feel is a fair comparison, but I'd been referring to them being the same style of beer. Sam Adam's Black Lager is more appropriately classified as a German style called Schwarzbier. I don't think you need to be a German student to know that stands for “Black Beer.” Guinness is more popularly a derivative of the porter (which hails from London by the way) style of beers, but we can touch on that later.

I see your Schwarz is as big as mine – a definition:

What is this bier and why is it so schwarz anyway? Schwarzbier is a lager – which means that the yeast all ferments at the top of the barrel as opposed to an Ale where it ferments towards the bottom. Schwarzbier is actually similar to Porter in that at one point most porters were brewed using lager yeast, but that practice has mostly stopped. The dark colors you're drinking in are a result of the dark colored malts which get that way through the roasting process (I'm gonna keep bringing up Guinness - It's the same story here as well)

And be proud while you're drinking it, for you are drinking history my friend. Dark beers like this are some of the earliest types available. The roast is part of what dictates the color of the beer and roasting techniques didn't allow for lighter color beers until relatively recently – some hundred and fifty years ago (Source: Wikipedia). As far as history goes, this is one of the chosen styles of brew for the oldest operating brewery, Braunschweiger Mumme, out of Braunschweig, Germany. Documents mention this product as far back as the sixteenth century!

When matching this style with food look for burgers, Cajun food, any kind of aged ham, Lamb (preferably burnt on an open flame or grilled for you lesser creatures), or generally any manly food involving the wholesale slaughter, torching, and subsequent snarfing of fluffy woodland creatures big and small.

I'll have a history of Samuel Adams up later this week. In the mean time, pull up a Black Lager and snack on something that used to be a mammal. Enjoy!