Standing in the bar at North of the Bayou, I wondered if the gentleman who was sitting at what would be to the left as I entered was the brewmaster, Frank. I've been told that's his preferred spot. He looked like your average blue collar guy. I could imagine Studs Terkel walking in to have a chat with him over a beer. I returned to perusing their brewery's beer menu (not the one with all of the Abita on it) and came to the conclusion that, as long as I was going to try their porter, I might as well keep the dark beer motif going and get some of their Schwarzbier too.
I'd had it on a previous visit with the Frau when we stopped in for fish fry last summer. I found it satisfactory.
My experience with German Schwarzbiers is extremely limited and I can only imagine was passes for the style in Bavaria but, to me, a Schwarzbier should be black in color but not look like motor oil when being poured. It should be light and nimble on your tongue - like a pilsner. More bitter flavors like coffee and dark chocolate should be very subtle with a general roasty taste taking pride of place.
It is puzzling that American brewers tend to brew Schwarzbier as if it were simply a lagered porter. Maybe this started with Sprecher's Black Bavarian. A good beer, but one that seems to have little in common with a Köstritzer Schwarzbier beyond color. Versions of the style brewed here emphasize those coffee and dark chocolate flavors instead of a more roasty grain taste. Typical American embrace of extremes and shunning of the subtle.
Methinks I need to head to Bavaria for further research on this subject.
My recollection of North of the Bayou's Schwarzbier was of one that was typically American - like a lagered porter. Not heavy but also not light as a pilsner; big flavors, not the more subtle ones.
Were my recollections correct? Had the formula changed?
It was a serious case of déjà vu. Just as with their porter, this stuff looked like motor oil, black and viscous. As it turned out, upon closer inspection, the Schwarzbier was less red but equally opaque in the glass. The foam was tan here just as with its portery brethren but the head seemed a bit firmer. The aroma was mainly a mix of plum/prune and chocolate. Not really dark chocolate but not milk chocolate either. Like semi-sweet baking chips. Not a total 180 from the porter but not precisely the same. But also very American smelling to my nostrils.
My first sip revealed a mediumy body and a brew that went easy on the fizziness. It was quite smooth with a taste of dark chocolate as well as coffee and some malty sweetness with perhaps just a tad of something like plum. That sweetness and the coffee lingered on the finish as some herbal hops came to add a modicum of dryness and bitterness.
The taste here was consonant with my memories from drinking it last year and in line with the Sprecher Black Bavarian school of American Schwarzbier brewing. It was also very similar to their Porterton Pinker, but with some subtle differences with the most prominent being less stone fruit sweetness and more hoppy taste.
While a very tasty brew, don't expect a Köstritzer-like beer when you drink it.
Junk food pairing: With its full flavor and heavier-than-pils body, Schwarzbier will go well with heartier, meatier fare so pair the Schwarzbier you take home in a crowler with a hearty reuben egg roll or 4.
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