If you gaze long enough into a Schwarzbier...: Aecht Schlenkerla Erle by Schlenkerla

Occasionally I surf on over to the Schlenkerla website, which seems to not have changed since the Geocities era. This is wholly appropriate since the brewery began during the Middle Ages and seems centuries away from ever brewing an IPA. As I am browsing, I fall into a dream where I am in Bamberg. After a little Wandern through the Franconian countryside, I find myself rather thirsty and so I traipse through the Altstadt in search of refreshment. Looking up at one point, I see the brewer's star beckoning me into Schlenkerla's historic tavern. There I order a Rauchbier or swei or alle. I drink with gusto and rivulets of fuliginous goodness run down my beard. I try to lap it up with my tongue but, not being Gene Simmons, it just won't reach. Locals give the foolish tourist their best side-eye glances and then...and then my oneiric bliss ends because reality intrudes and I have to get back to work or take out the trash.

Until the day comes when I find myself in Bamberg, it seems as if I will have to make do with Steve's Liquor over on Junction Road. When I finally got fed up with the Woodman's by my house having stopped carrying Schlenkerla altogether, I zipped over to the west side hoping that Steve's could feed my need for smoke. And so they did.

Not only did they have the Märzen (if you carry Schlenkerla, you serve their Märzen, if nothing else), but they had the fairly new Fastenbier as well. Yeah, it was introduced in 2005 but, if your brewery has been around since 1405, 19 years is barely yesterday. Even newer, though - basically fresh out of the kettle womb - was the Aecht Schlenkerla Erle, a Schwarzbier, which seems to have been introduced only last year.

Not only is Schlenkerla trying out a new bier style here, but they're also using a novel wood for smoking their malt - alder. If memory serves, alder is used to smoke the malt that Alaskan Brewing uses in their annual delight, Smoked Porter. Alaskan's brew is the only one I've had (that I know of) that uses alder smoked malt so my experience with the stuff is limited. I recall alder giving a slightly mellower, almost sweeter taste, than the workhorse beechwood that, as I understand it, Schlenkerla has been using for ages. As in centuries. Not really sweeter but a little less sharp, not that Schlenkerla's brews have anything approaching an acrid taste, mind you.

The deep, dark brown liquid had a reddish tint to it and was topped by a fine tan head that stuck around a little while. "Black beer" is apt here as I couldn't tell if the stuff was clear (no doubt it was) or had any bubbles inside zipping upwards. I held the glass close to my eyes to get a better look and instead had a weird, unsettling Nietzschean moment. The aroma must have been assembled by the Bambergian Jean-Baptiste Grenouille because it has all the scents that I desire in a beer. First was the alder-laced smoke which worked hand-in-hand with a plum-like sweetness. A delicious breadiness held fast against the piquant smoke and was joined by some spicy hops and tinge of roastiness.

My first sip revealed a light-medium body with a moderate dose of fizz. Considering I've only ever had one Schwarzbier from Deutschland, Köstritzer, this all seemed par for the course. The heavenly smoke flavor made its presence known immediately and with it came a slight sweetness which I think was a bit of malt and a bit of accent from the smoke. Spicy/peppery hops were easy to discern but a faint breadiness less so.

The finish was surprisingly complex with the smoke yielding room on my tongue for hoppy bitterness and a bit of dryness as well. The smokiness then faded leaving a roasty malt taste to ride it out until I took my next sip.

Sehr Schön!

With the fizz being on the low side, this was a smooth tasting brew. I found myself drawn to the smoke-roasty combo like a junkie to the needle. The hops were applied perfectly. They added a nice spicy taste that made a fine counterpoint to all of the malty flavors yet the herb never dared try to stop the Maillard-guaiacol juggernaut. And the aftertaste was just great, going through various phases like the moon.

Junk food pairing: Grab a bag of Gardetto's Deli-Style Mustard Pretzel Mix. It's mustard mustard and not honey mustard with the unneeded sweetness. Plus you get their prized rye chips in addition to the pretzels. The brand sounds Italian but this is a Teutonic snack mix through and through. You might want to grab a couple bags as Erle is an easy-going 4.2% A.B.V. so you'll likely have more than one.

Neues Rauchbier?!

I know the folks at Schlenkerla have been throwing in a new beer here and there over the past several years but this year, we get zwei in just the span of a few months.

Back in June, they introduced Aecht Schlenkerla Weichsel, a rotbier, a.k.a. - red lager.

And, any day now, if not already, the world can enjoy Aecht Schlenkerla Erle, a smoked Schwarzbier, a.k.a. - dark lager.

 

 

Considering how much I loved Schell's smoked dark lager, Chimney Sweep, I presume that it will be love at first sip for me and the Erle.

The Weichsel seems to have made it to these shores, though I dunno about Madison in particular. However, the Erle seems to have yet to make the trip.

 

It's like Christmas came early.

Marinating

Yesterday I spent some quality time in the meat department of my local supermarket and followed this up by buying charcoal. My bill from Farm & Fleet was rather more than I thought it would be. Inspecting the receipt, it looks like cat litter is twice as expensive than I remembered it being and I had bought 250% more charcoal than I normally do.

When I got home, I marinated some boneless/skinless chicken thighs in a faux Southeast Asian marinade that had lemongrass in it. I grilled them up in the evening and served them with a glass of Lemongrass Pils from 3 Sheeps Brewing.

The chicken was quite tasty while the light body and big citrus-floral taste of the beer complemented the grilled meat and jalapeno slices very well.

My next project was to tweak my standard German grilling marinade for some pork chops.

I bought a silo of Köstritzer Schwarzbier and poured some into my mixing bowl. Then I liberally added Polish mustard and followed this up with a generous portion of Penzey's Bavarian seasoning blend. Pretty standard stuff.

The tweak was to add plum.

I mashed some of the plum pieces to try and liberate their Prunus essence. Tasting the marinade, I concluded that I had put in too much mustard. These chops will go down fine but the senf adding needs a lighter touch, I suspect. We shall find out, though, when the marriage of the flavors is consummated.

Exit Light Beer: Schwarzbier by North of the Bayou Brewery

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 when I 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.

Who lubricates the machine joints with their own beer?: Schwarzbier by Köstritzer

Allow me to begin with a couple beery observations.

First, I noticed on a recent trek to the north that the imported German bier selection at the Woodman's up in Altoona dwarfs that of the one at the east side Woodman's here in Madison. While there weren't six packs of Leipziger Gose nor of Berliner Kindl Weisse, they did have more than one brand of Helles. Plus Ayinger. Not a deep selection of brews, but a fairly wide one. I am jealous.

Tangentially, the cooler space dedicated to New Glarus was yuge! Does the distributor pay for such acreage? Or is there genuinely very high demand, perhaps because of the thirsty hordes from the Twin Cities stopping in to stock their beer refrigerators?

Second, German brewers seem to be making a concerted effort to appeal to American drinkers. Here I refer to the large ones. Brewers, that is, not drinkers. While I have yet to see Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Dunstig IPAs, I am seeing more bier in those larger 16oz cans. I think I first noticed Radlers being packaged that way but the trend has since moved on to other biers. This must drive the Germans mad as they aren't equivalent to a nice, round fraction of a liter. Surely these cans are dedicated to the American market.

I wonder why they've changed the packaging. Are they losing market share? Or is it just routine maintenance to keep the brand presentable to the ever-wandering eyes of American consumers? Is it more profitable?

One of those brands that has Americanized their packaging is Köstritzer and I now see 4-packs of their Schwarzbier on cooler shelves. On a recent trip to the beer store I availed myself of the opportunity to try out one of these new-fangled cans. Beyond it having been a while since I'd had a tasty Schwarzbier from Germany, this would also allow me to compare and contrast it with an American cousin.

After my encounter with Storm and Stress, the Schwarzbier from Milwaukee's Gathering Place Brewing, I felt that I'd drunk something almost, but not quite entirely unlike Schwarzbier. For me, Storm and Stress was a bit intense, a bit too porter-like and not dark pils-y enough for the style. (Just like Sprecher's Black Bavarian.**) And so I figured I'd get an example of the style from the Fatherland to find out if my memory was playing tricks on me.

"But," I hear you ask, "is Köstritzer truly an archetypal Schwarzbier?" That I do not know. However, it does have the virtue of being the German Schwarzbier most readily at hand in these parts, i.e. - the only one.

My Köstritzer, quite unsurprisingly poured black. I mean it was opaque just like the best Captain Beefheart lyrics. (I'm looking at you "Ashtray Heart".) The head was tan and loose and there was only a little bit of it to be had. Likely my poor pouring skills. I smelled a little plum sweetness, a hint of coffee, and roughly the same amount of grassy hops.

That first sip was simply great and made me wonder why this is such a neglected style. A blast of fresh yeasty bread was followed by a hint of plum sweetness. There was also some roasted grain and wee bit of coffee too. Actually, I could taste more coffee depending on where the beer was on my tongue. There was a spicy/grassy hop flavor in the background but the hops came out in the finish which was rather dry but not particularly bitter. Some of that coffee/roasted grain flavor lingered at the end too.

Take all this and add some nice fizz and you've got a very tasty bier.

This Köstritzer sampling more or less conformed to my memories of it which come mainly from quaffing it at The Malt House. "Dark pils" is a good description. It a medium-light body akin to that of a pils and it's got the fizz of a pils. If I moved the beer around in my mouth and got it to just the right spot on my tongue, the coffee tastes really came to the fore. But, if I didn't drink it like I had a mouthful of Listerine, that flavor was much less pronounced. In contrast, Storm and Stress has much more coffee and roasted grain flavor when consumed normally which, to my mind, confirms my earlier judgement that it had porter-like qualities that the Schwarzbier, as conceived in Deutschland, doesn't.

As I wrote previously, I liked Storm and Stress but it is really a different kettle of fish. Köstritzer has a more delicate flavor, all around. Those roasty, coffee flavors are more an accent here whereas Gathering Place's take on the style made them much more prominent.

Junk food pairing: Pair your Köstritzer Schwarzbier with Lillie's Q Hot Pepper Vinegar Kettle Chips.

**I recently had Soul Memory, a dark lager from the Hacienda Beer Company. While not billed as a Schwarzbier, it had that same portery fuliginous taste.

I see a yellow pils and I want it to turn black: Storm and Stress by Gathering Place Brewing Co.

 

American beer styles seem to be clearly delineated in a way that continental European styles are not. Take the American IPA for example. A NE/hazy IPA is opaque, looks like it was drained from an orange juice swamp, and tastes like Hawaiian Punch. On the other hand, a West Coast IPA is clear, the malt can be tasted, and it tastes like a Christmas tree. Black IPAs look, well, not pale, i.e. - black. And so on. All of these beers come from the same style family but the differences are rather dramatic amongst the individual styles.

But in mainland Europe, styles often have minor distinctions that separate them rather than glaringly obvious differences. In a previous entry I expressed confusion about the differences between Czech and German pilsners which apparently come down mainly to a little less or a little more malt and a little less or a little more hops. The differences are more subtle over there than here. (Please note that I am conducting some research in this area and bought some Pilsner Urquell for my experimentation.)

There's a similar confusion for me between the Dunkel and the Schwarzbier. And I suppose there are even more granular distinctions to be made between, say, the Munich Dunkel and its Franconian cousin. (I am unaware of regional variations in Schwarzbier although I don't doubt for one second that they exist.) But let's not go there because I'd get even more lost than I already am.

Ultimately, the problem is that I've never been to Germany to figure out the answer to this great mystery. More proximately is that I don't encounter much Schwarzbier brewed in Germany and, when I do, it's usually Köstritzer, although Krombacher Dark is becoming more common in these parts. Not that it is common, mind you, it's just that you see it occasionally whereas it was totally absent previously. With examples from the Heimat being a precious few, I've been weaned mostly on versions from the teat of American craft brewing.

From what I gather, a Schwarzbier is like a pils but darker. A lot darker. The name doesn't translate to "black beer" for nothin'. It has less of a bready malt flavor to it than its Dunkel cousin with some roasty tastes and medium hoppiness. In addition, it's got a lighter body and is drier than the Dunkel. This comports with my tongue's experiences drinking Spaten's Dunkel and Köstritzer's Schwarzbier. However, it doesn't match my experiences with, say, Sprecher's Black Bavarian, which they advertise as a Schwarzbier. Black Bavarian has the roasted coffee and dark chocolate flavors of a porter but with a heavier body. I do enjoy Black Bavarian quite a bit but it is far from being a dark pils.

Sprecher's Milwaukee neighbors, Gathering Place Brewing, have thrown their hat into the Schwarzbier ring with Storm and Stress - Sturm und Drang, auf Deutsch**. A brief search of the Internet gives me the impression that they've brewed it for a few years but only now am I getting around to trying it. I had a good experience with their Franconian lager, Spezial, and I am enamored of dark beers so I was looking forward to tasting Storm and Stress.

Having had a Dunkel recently which I felt was lacking in the forms that I think of a Dunkel as having, Storm and Stress started things out according to my expectations: it was black. Well, it was clear and really a very dark reddish brown but it had that Stygian gloom thing when you casually glanced at it. A small tan head came and went. It had a very pleasant aroma that was sweet at first - think plum - before some coffee and roasted grains came in.

Despite knowing better, my brain always thinks that Dunkels and Scharzbiers are going to be like motor oil because of their darkness which allows little to no light through my glass. I always have a brief moment of surprise when I drink the stuff and find that its color belies a much lighter body, like that of a pils. (There is surely a lengthy German compound word for being surprised at something you shouldn't be surprised by and it would make a fine name for a beer, whatever it is.) And so it was here. Although not particularly sweet, there was some maltiness to be had in addition to plum as well as some coffee. I could taste grassy hops underneath it all. Dark chocolate came out on the swallow. The finish was rather dry due to a nice, sturdy dose of fizz as well as the hops which took on spicy notes that let the bitterness build.

While I would have to have a Köstritzer for comparison, I think Storm and Stress is a little intense for the style. It's like you were expecting to hear Kind of Blue but the jukebox started playing Pangaea instead. That dark pils malt subtlety is missing here and was replaced with more of a porter profile. I think it'd be more to style to have less coffee flavor and more of a gentle roastiness.

Regardless of how true to style Storm and Stress is, it is a very tasty brew indeed. I really liked the plum and coffee flavors and how the beer's body remained light. The dry finish seemed to be out of the German pils playbook and made it quite refreshing on a recent hot and humid afternoon. Get it while you can.

Junk food pairing: Pair your Storm and Stress with a bag of Mrs. Fisher's Dark Chips. They're made with potatoes that have more sugar than normal so they're darker, richer, and full of melanoidin goodness.

**After drinking this beer, I listened to the In Our Time episode about the Sturm und Drang movement and learned that "Drang" really translates as urge and not stress.

The Evil Rye: Böse Roggen by Excel Brewing Company

It is a testament to my tenure in IT that whenever I see this bier bottle, I don't think of doing well at some endeavor but rather of spreadsheets and green Xs. Excel the brewery is an adjunct (pun intended) of the Excel Bottling Company in Breese, Illinois. Breese is downstate, east of St. Louis, in the land that gave us Uncle Tupelo.

The brewing operation began in 2012 and Excel completely revamped its line-up in 2014. The bier at hand, Böse Roggen (German for "evil rye"), was a result of the changes. The special insight that rye and dark lagers are match made im Himmel is apparently unique to Illinois as the only other instance I know of this spectacular combination is Arc Welder by Chicago's Metropolitan Brewing.

Excel began distributing to the Chicago area about a year ago, it seems, and I picked up my six pack three weeks ago out in the burbs.

Böse Roggen appears to be totally black until you hold it at an angle to the light where you can see that it's really a very deep reddish brown. My best guess is that it was clear but I can neither confirm nor deny that one. While I have a thing for bright, pale beers with big, fluffy white heads in the summertime, this one had a big, loose tan head that lasted a fair while and radiated its own dark aestival beauty.

The Excel webpage notes that Böse Roggen is made up of 50% rye which is a combination of rye malt and chocolate rye malt. The more I think about chocolate rye malt, the more I think it should be designated a UNESCO World Heritage Food or perhaps be mentioned on those gold discs we affix to interstellar probes to demonstrate to the aliens out there that we come in peace and that at least some of us are epicureans.

Getting back to the bier, my nose beheld all that rye. You could smell its spiciness. But there was also the chocolate part of the equation with roasted grain, bitter chocolate, and coffee in equal parts to the rye making for a complex yet balanced aroma.

And that wonderful, earthy spiciness came through quite well to my tongue. Joining it were the requisite Schwarzbier tastes of coffee and chocolate, the latter being less bitter here than on the nose. The carbonation was pretty mild as was a grassy hop flavor. Overall a nice, clean lager taste with an emphasis on rye and dark malts.

All of those dreamy malt flavors dissolved into a hoppy finish that was a bit on the peppery side. This made things rather dry - not Bohemian pilsener territory but rather dry nonetheless. There was some Schaumhaftvermoegen with a couple decently-sized patches as the odd speck of foam.

Ausgezeichnet! The big dose of rye pays off here, to my taste, with the grain's prominent spiciness being a real treat to both my nose and tongue. As a fan of dark biers, I loved the schwarzbier base with its rich coffee and dark chocolate flavors that the chocolate rye malt added. And being a schwarzbier also means that Böse Roggen has a fairly light body and a clean, crisp lager taste. (It comes in a 4.8% A.B.V.) Rye and dark malts are two of my favorite ingredients and so this bier was like winning the lottery for me. The only problem with Böse Roggen is that I've got to cross state lines to get my hands on it.

Junk food pairing: For a sweet indulgence, pair Böse Roggen with some Dark Chocolate Crunch Pretzel Crisps and let the chocolate melt into the dark roasted flavors of the bier. On the savory side grab a bag of smoked gouda potato chips. The creamy cheesiness complements the bier's smooth taste while the smoke does the same with the rye and roasted grain.

The Black Sheep of the Family: Baba Black Lager by Uinta Brewing Company

If you look at the December 28-29, 1996 issue of The Capital Times you will see me mentioned briefly. I was innocently enjoying the Badgers beating Utah in the Copper Bowl at Babe's sports bar with some friends. One of them, Dan, disappeared at some point and returned a short while later saying that he had been approached by a local representative of the Fourth Estate and had chatted with the gentleman for a spell. The next day I got namechecked while Dan was quoted in the paper as saying, "It wasn't much of a game. You know, it's Utah. Mormons. They can't put a football team together."

That is not a bad analogy to how I've felt about Utah with regards to brewing for quite some time. "Mormons don't drink. They either don't have microbreweries or, if they do, they can't be any good." And then word trickled in from out west that there was a beer from out in the land of Mormons called "Polygamy Porter". "Well I'll be. There was microbrew out there. And they had a sense of humor too."

But that brewery, Wasatch, was out in Park City which is chock full of Richard Florida's vaunted creative class types who hang out and do things like attend the Sundance Film Festival. Of course you'd have craft brews out in a tourist trap like that. But then in 2014 Epic Brewing came to Wisconsin store shelves. They are out of Salt Lake City, the heart of Mormon country. The blasphemers even specialize in strong brews. No doubt Joseph Smith and his wives are still rolling in their graves. And then last year Uinta Brewing, also in Salt Lake City, began appearing at my local bottle shops.

Their Tinder, a rauchbier, caught my eye as did Baba, a black lager brewed with organic barley and hops. Although the brewery lists Baba as a year-round beer, it is rather elusive in Madison. Or at least at the joints I frequent, anyway. Perhaps the Jenifer Street Market carries it ex gratia for us dark lager lovers.

Baba is a dark bier. Very dark. I think it's about as dark as copper can get before becoming pitch. I held the glass up to a quintet of light bulbs and even their 4,000 lumens struggled to penetrate the gloom, the likes of which I hadn't seen since April. But they did enough for me to see the color. I could also see that Baba was clear and that there was a gaggle of bubbles moving on up to a generous light tan head. The foam was firm and lasted a good long time.

Dark chocolate was the first thing that my nose caught with coffee and highly roasted grain trailing right behind. They smelled slightly bitter but were mostly delectable bursts of Maillard reactiony goodness.

Baba has a nice clean malt flavor and it was dark chocolate hit my tongue immediately as I took my first sip. It was joined by that dark roast grain flavor just as with the smell but coffee was fainter here and there was just a touch of smokiness too. These dark grain flavors had a mild bitterness which was complemented by some grassy hops but, overall, the bitterness was restrained. Joining in on the fun was a slight sweetness which was like plum or cherry. I think that latter is the result of me savoring the chocolate flavor here and having a chocolate malt suddenly appear in my mind's eye. The carbonation was like the drummer in this group, keeping all of the flavors in check and in balance.

For the finish – and I know this is going to be difficult to believe – that dark/bitter chocolate flavor stuck around as it was joined by some of those organic Hallertau hops which gave a tasty bit of spiciness and also a goodly dose of bitterness for a dry finale. I was left with some fine Schaumhaftvermoegen on my glass with rather thick streaks all around.

For a bier that is only 4% A.B.V., Baba will not leave you wanting for taste. Someone described Led Zeppelin's music as being "tight but loose" and I'd opine that Baba is light but full. It has a fairly light body but all of those dark malts with their chocolate and coffee goodness lend the bier fullness of flavor. As someone who thoroughly enjoys everything that darker malts bring to a beer, Baba hit all the right buttons for me. However, there's more going on here than simply chocolate malt. In addition to the roasted grain tastes, some low-level sweetness along with a dash of hops add to the circus of flavors all being kept in harmonious order by the carbonation.

Baba puts the lie to the common misconceptions that low alcohol beers are low in flavor and that dark beers are heavy. This should be in everyone's arsenal of summer brews.

Junk food pairing: Baba pairs well with complementary foods such as Hostess Ho Hos and Dark Chocolate Crunch Pretzel Crisps.

What Flavor Lurks in the Hearts of Schwarzbiers?: 5 O’Clock Shadow by Grand Teton Brewing

The fine folks at Grand Teton Brewing apparently have a penchant for taking lower-alcohol German styles and turning them into mega-maxi brews. Witness how they turned the traditionally (at least in the past few decades) low-alcohol Berliner Weisse into an über-Starkbier. I was recently given a bottle of their 5 O'Clock Shadow, which the brewery describes as a "double black lager", a.k.a. - an embiggened schwarzbier. It comes in at 7.6% A.B.V. Could they have gotten away with calling it a Baltic porter? Only The Shadow knows…

5 O’Clock Shadow is part of Grand Teton's Cellar Reserve series and the tag on the bottle says "Specially designed to enjoy fresh or cellar for years to come." My bottle indicated that it was filled on 27 January of last year and I don't care how big this bier is; cellaring a lager for "years" is probably not a good idea. I had little doubt that being a year and a quarter old was pushing it. In my defense, I was only given this brew a few weeks ago so the prolonged aging isn't my fault. I swear.

Grand Teton says that they lagered 5 O’Clock Shadow for 16(?!) weeks which sounded quite tantalizing. Cleanliness is next to godliness, right?

5 O’Clock Shadow pours a very deep copper. It was almost as light-gobbling dark as Dark Something. If I held my glass up to the light just right, it appeared to be clear. I also spied some bubbles going upwards from the bottom of my glass. At the top was a loose tan head that lasted what I think of as being an average amount of time – about half a minute.

I must admit that the aroma took me off guard. I figured that a double black lager would positively reek, but in a good way, of roasted malts and of some that were extra roasted as well. Instead my nose was assailed by fruit. Sure, there was some of the expected roasted grain and a bit of grass in the background but it blatantly smelled of peach. How blatantly odd. I took this to be a bad sign thinking that oxidation had done the dastardly deed and turned the precious bier that was months in the making back into wort.

Praise be to St. Gambrinus for my fears were allayed upon tasting the brew. The darker grains had really left their mark on the flavor with a rich chocolatey goodness that was accompanied by a hint of smoke in the background. There was some roasted grain flavor as well as some malt sweetness that was part caramel and part bread dough. Hops were subdued here with only some grassy/herbal flavor behind the wall of malt. I suspect that they were more prominent when the bier was fresh.

Those hops, however, stepped up for the finish where they took on a bigger spicy/pepper flavor. Bitterness took over from the malt flavors too making for a pretty dry ending. There was Schaumhaftvermoegen aplenty with a wide ring toward the top of my glass and large splotches on down.

Opening the bottle I was slightly apprehensive as I thought that perhaps 5 O’Clock Shadow would be a big, thick brew and, consequently, a bit too much for a warm spring day. However, I was wrong. The bier had a medium body and was dangerously smooth. I thoroughly enjoyed the smoky chocolate flavors from the dark grains and also liked, not only the hop flavors, but also the level of hoppiness. They definitely took a back seat here and I can only wonder what this bier would have tasted like fresh.

Folks here in Wisconsin who missed 5 O’Clock Shadow last year can and should enjoy Capital's Fishin' in the Dark in a couple of months or so.

Junk food pairing: Should you be so lucky as to have some 5 O’Clock Shadow lying around, bust that open and grab a bag of BBQ flavored potato chips. The salt enhances the bier's overall flavor while the BBQ complements the smoky dark chocolate.

She Gives Great Helmet: Dark Helmet by Titletown Brewing Company

The dunkles/schwarzbier are two of my favorite bier styles. I adore the various grainy flavors that these biers have. Malty sweetness is kept at bay here in favor of more savory ones that range from the lighter roasted flavor to the coffee and chocolate tastes of those grains subjected to the purifying flames for longer periods of time. I've struggled here to determine exactly what the difference is between the two and, as best as I can figure, the schwarzbier is a darker and more deeply-flavored dunkles. It's got more roasted grain flavors including those of very dark malts including coffee and chocolate. Not that they're thick and rich or any such thing, just that they have a bigger flavor while retaining the nimble drinkability of a pilsner.

Green Bay's Titletown Brewing Company has been making Dark Helmet for several years and it won a bronze medal at the 2009 Great American Beer Fest. The bier appeared in bottles beginning in February in the brewery's hometown and I believe they finally made their way to Madison last month.

Since neither style is especially popular, I was quite pleased to hear that A) Titletown was going to be bottling Dark Helmet and B) that they brewed a scharzbier in the first place. Their pilsner duly impressed me so I had confidence that they could brew a tasty schwarzbier when I bought my six-pack.

Schwarzbier means "black beer" in English and Dark Helmet certainly looks that way in a glass with its deep, dark sepia appearing schwarz. Although I couldn't tell until I got to the end of my glass, the bier is clear. My pour gave a rather large, tan head, about half of which can be seen in the photo, that dissipated fairly quickly. I expected it to be very creamy but it leaned towards the foam on soda or champagne. This bier really put the schwarz in schwarzbier so I was unable to see if there were any bubbles inside.

If I had any reservations about Titletown's ability to brew a lager, they certainly eroded when I put my nose to work. It had a big roasted grain scent with some bitter chocolate underneath and just the barest hint of malt sweetness. The taste was similar with bitter chocolate and roasted grain being joined by a little bit of coffee. The clean lager taste gave only the faintest hint of stone fruit sweetness that was complemented by the subtle taste of grassy hops which gave very little bitterness.

On the finish those grain flavors slowly faded as the grassy hop flavor was joined by a spicier one. The hops never got much past mild and the same went for their bitterness. Just enough to see the malty tastes on their way. My glass was left with only a few spots of Schaumhaftvermoegen.

All doubts about Titletown's competency to brew lagers well should be laid to rest. Dark Helmet is a very tasty brew indeed. It has a nice medium body which I thought was lighter than Sprecher Black Bavarian and heavier than Köstritzer. While full of rich, roasted grain flavor and slightly chewy, it doesn't weigh on your tongue; this is not a sweet beer. I really loved the balance of malt tastes here with toasted grain never overpowering nor being overpowered by the coffee and chocolate flavors of darker malts. There is more bitterness here from dark malts than you'd find in a Köstritzer but it's not at porter levels. My Platonic ideal of a schwarzbier would be a touch drier with a little more hops and carbonation but Dark Helmet is still a fantastic bier and a most welcome addition to the shelves of Madison bottleshops.

Junk food pairing: Grab a bag of Snyder's Bacon Cheddar pretzel pieces to go with your Dark Helmet. The slight smokiness of the bacon flavoring will complement the roasted grain flavors of the bier.

Fear of the Schwarz: Midnight Star by Bull Falls Brewery

Last autumn I was duly impressed by Bull Falls' Oktoberfest. I learned that the Wausau brewery expanded in 2013 and the new digs allowed brewmaster Mike Zamzow to do decoction mashes a process that many German brewers swear by. Decoction means drawing a portion of your grain-water mixture, a.k.a. – mash, boiling it, and then returning it from whence it came. Practitioners say that the process gives life to rich, toasty melanoidin/Maillard reaction-y malty manna from heaven that can be created no other way. Others poo-poo the claim and point towards the malt itself.

Not being a brewer, I can't say I fall on one side or the other. As a drinker, I can say that many German biers have a malt taste unmatched by most American brewers. Decoction? Maybe.

Regardless, Bull Falls' has made a commitment to German bier styles and brewing methods. This coupled with the fact that I love schwarzbiers made me eager to taste Midnight Star, their Schwarzbier. I've been unable to find it in Madison but grabbed a four-pack last month when I was up in Stevens Point.

The schwarzbier is a dark lager and I struggle to define a difference between it and its cousin the dunkel. Both have relatively light bodies like a pilsner or helles despite having the appearance of a heavier brew such as a porter or stout. I tend to think of the schwarzbier as having more roasted grain flavors – like coffee or chocolate – than a dunkel yet these malt flavors are much more subdued than in porter or stouts.

Midnight Star pours a disturbingly light mahogany. While my photography skills are quite poor, I think you can get an idea of how light it is from my picture. For contrast check out a couple other schwarzbiers – here's Night Wolf from Valkyrie and Metropolitan's Magnetron. Midnight Star is clear but saw no bubbles inside the bier. On the other hand, I did get a nice ecru head on my glass that was frothy and luscious.

Things fared better with the aroma as the malt gave a really nice bready smell as well as some of roasted grains. Also in there was a hint of some grassy hops. Midnight Star had all the flavors that I expected of it. Malt dominated the medium-light body with coffee and roasted grain flavors being the most prominent but there was some sweetness underneath. I couldn't taste much in the way of hops but the carbonation added a little dryness.

The problem was that, although the requisite flavors were present, they were too weak. The bier was a bit watery.

While there wasn't a lot of hop flavor to be had, the finish was dry anyway owing to a smidgen of hop spiciness, the carbonation, and a paucity of malt for contrast. My glass was left with a goodly amount of Schaumhaftvermoegen with thin streaks all around.

Sadly, Midnight Star was disappointing for me. I very much enjoyed their Oktoberfest as well as their helles and was expecting good things here. Unfortunately the bier is simply too watery as I suspected from its light color. A schwarzbier ought to be a glass of Stygian gloom, not allowing any light to escape its depths just like a black hole. The malt flavors here, although tasty, are weak and watered-down, not just more subdued as in a dunkel.

Although I have no plans to be up north in the near future, I do intend to try this bier again when I can. This must have been an off batch.

Junk food pairing: Until it's proven that Midnight Star can deliver the goods, pair it with easy-going things like plain potato chips or pretzels.

The Schwarz Is Not Strong In This One: Schwarz in a Box by Capital Brewery

Back in 2014 Capital Brewery'sAshley Kinart was given free rein to create a beer of her own devising and she delivered Fishin' in the Dark, an imperial schwarzbier. That autumn she was promoted to brewmaster and promptly brewed Schwarz in a Box in time for the holidays.

Schwarz in a Box, as the name implies, is also a schwarzbier. I found a bottle of it last month and was a bit surprised that it had been brewed again as it seemed to have gone all but unnoticed last year. I poked around the Internet only to discover that my assumption was quite mistaken and that I had, in fact, purchased a bottle from last year. Not the end of the world, but something to keep in mind as you read on.

As I admitted in my review of Fishin' in the Dark, I'm not really sure how to define a schwarzbier. It's a dark lager but is not a big, viscous brew like a porter. Think a pilsner but dark in color and with the flavors of dark malts. So what's the difference between a schwarzbier and a dunkel? I'm not sure. I think a schwarzbier should be a bit darker in color and have more malt flavor, including a little sweetness, but is quite similar to the dunkel. A bigger dunkel, perhaps?

All of this is moot here because Schwarz in a Box is 7.6% A.B.V. and, like it's summer cousin, is an imperial schwarzbier. (Anyone care to venture a guess as to the difference between an imperial schwarzbier and a Baltic porter or dunkel bock?) But for the holiday season Kinart has infused the bier with spices. And so, keeping in mind that this brew is by no means fresh, here's what I found.

Schwarz in a Box pours a dark sepia that appears black in the glass. Looking straight on the bier is opaque but if you approach it at an angle, it seems to be clear. The small tan head went away rather quickly. Because the bier is so schwarz I had a hard time determining if there were any bubbles inside the glass.

The aroma lets on that this is no normal imperial schwarzbier. Orange peel and cinnamon were up front with some vanilla and perhaps ginger in the background. I found it odd that I could discern no malt. Thankfully the maltiness came through in the taste. Unfortunately, despite a medium body, there wasn't much of it. Cinnamon ruled the roost with the orange peel by its side. While invisible to the eyes, carbonation cut any potential sweetness out and added a little dryness. Pulling up the rear were the expected malt flavors of roasted grain and coffee.

Some spicy hops came through at the end and helped make for a pretty dry finish helped along by the carbonation and a late burst of cinnamon. A modicum of Schaumhaftvermoegen lined my glass.

In short, Schwarz in a Box is like cold mulled bier. Mulled beer has been around for ages although it's not a trend that seems to have been embraced by American craft beer drinkers. Regardless of tradition, this bier will succeed or fail on its own terms. To my taste, it is the latter. The spices, especially the cinnamon, overpower the malt flavors here. I love dark lagers with their great blend of toasty/bready and roasted/coffee malt tastes. That mix is lost here in a miasma of spices. I have nothing against the theory behind this brew but the bier needs room to breathe.

So what was lost over the past year? If the beer had become excessively oxidized from age I'd expect a syrupy sweetness to it. But that wasn't present here and the bier didn't taste old to me - it simply tasted over-seasoned. I give Ashley Kinart credit for thinking outside of the box, so to speak, but I prefer it to have been more malty tasting. There's just not enough schwarz in this schwarzbier.

Junk food pairing: Schwarz in the Box pairs well with standard Christmas party kind of fare such as 7 Layer Dip Combos or Molten Hot Wing Ruffles.

Once You Go Schwarz, You Never Go Back: Fishin' in the Dark from Capital Brewery

Back in 2012 Kirby Nelson left Capital Brewery for the pastures of Verona. When Brian Destree took over Nelson's role, Capital was widely viewed as something of an Augean stable, littered with unfashionable lagers. Destree was charged with the Herculean task of turning things around and he did so by diverting rivers of IPAs into the brewery's portfolio.

Last year when Ashley Kinart was Capital Brewery's Assistant Brewmaster, she was given liberty to concoct a brew of her own devising. Rather than continue the march into IPA oblivion, she instead proved herself to be a recidivist by brewing Fishin' In The Dark, an imperial schwarzbier. The idea came to her in a daydream:

"'In the middle of this terribly long Winter I had this day dream that I was canoeing down the Wisconsin River with my boyfriend and we stopped on a sand bar to do some fishing. It was late in the day and we made our last cast while the sun was setting. We started humming the tune to 'Fishin’ in the Dark' and the idea just popped in my head,' said Kinart. 'That night I thought about what a beer with the same name would taste like, and the next day I pitched it to Brew Master, Brian Destree."

Dark lagers are amongst my favorite bier style so I was quite pleased to hear about this development although I was bit flummoxed at the notion of an imperial schwarzbier released just in time to greet summer and its attendant hot temperatures.

Trying to distinguish between a dunkles and a schwarzbier seems to be more art than science. There is the obvious difference of color. Science helps out here. "Schwarzbier" means "black beer" and thusly these beers are darker than their dunkles cousins. Beyond that, I'm not quite sure of just how different they are supposed to taste. It seems that your Munich dunkles is supposed to emphasize Munich malt and its attendant toasted flavors from Maillard reactions while a schwarbier aims for a lighter flavor involving dark malts that don't venture into the bitter/burnt territory like a porter.

Sprecher's Black Bavarian is generally classified as a schwarzbier. While it has an SRM of 40+ giving it the requisite color, it has a much richer malt flavor than, say, Köstritzer's schwarzbier. Black Bavarian has more alcohol and a heavier body too. Methinks this conundrum deserves more research. Preferably done in Deutschland. (I hear that schwarzbier is undergoing something of a resurgence in the former DDR, especially Saxony.)

Let's look at Ms. Kinart's creation.

As you'd expect, Fishin' in the Dark pours a deep, deep brown that looks very schwarz sitting in a glass looking licentiously drinkable. It’s quite opaque so I couldn't observe its clarity and was too lazy to pour a small amount in a separate glass to try and determine such. My pour gave me a nice tan head of about a centimeter. Because of that aforementioned opacity, I couldn't see inside the beer so there may have been effervescence of an Alka-Seltzer-like intensity and I wouldn't have known.

The aroma began with a sweetness like raisins before notes of coffee and dark chocolate enveloped my nose. Truly lovely even if the sweetness was a bit surprising. Those coffee and chocolate scents came through in the flavor with some slight bitterness as did a smidgeon of smokiness which was most welcome. There was also some sweetness here but the plum-like flavor was more subdued than the dulcet aroma. The overall flavor was clean with the emphasis on the malts. I also caught a little bite from the carbonation.

This being an imperial beer and weighing in at 7.5% A.B.V., the body was medium-heavy. It also means that I could taste a little alcohol burn in the finish as the coffee/roasted grain flavors lingered. Towards the very end a mild peppery hop bitterness kicked in to complete a dry finish. My glass was left with some nice Schaumhaftvermoegen as there were some nice tan webs left on the sides.

While having a heavier body than your typical schwarzbier, Fishin' in the Dark was not syrupy and retained a surprising amount of the nimbleness on the tongue of its non-imperial cousins. There is an intense maltiness to this beer which I loved. Slightly bitter coffee and dark chocolate flavors cozied up to a more mellow roasted grain taste in harmony. I buy Fishin' in the Dark in June and stash it away in my basement for chilly autumn days like today. Capital's Munich Dark is much better suited for summer.

Junk food pairing: While drinking Fishin' in the Dark eat some Baby Swiss Cheez-Its dipped in asiago-artichoke dip. The salt will intensify the malt flavors while the cheese and mayonnaise will provide a soft, mellow counterpart to them.

More Than Meets the Eye: Magnetron from Metropolitan Brewing

Chicago's Metropolitan Brewing is one of my favorite breweries. They brew tasty beers and refuse to populate their line-up with IPAs like a bunch of lemmings. Instead Metro offers fine beer of a more Teutonic nature. Last year they tweaked their line-up and started bottling seasonals with Magnetron, a schwarzbier, being the late autumn/early winter entry.

As far as I can tell, the difference between a schwarzbier and a Munich dunkles is that a schwarzbier goes easier on the malt and isn't as sweet as a dunkles – a milder dunkles, if you will. The thing is, I've had beers that are considered to be schwarzbiers that had had more malt flavor than some dunkles. The line between the two styles is a bit blurry for me. For instance, Sprecher's Black Bavarian is categorized as a schwarzbier yet it emphasizes the malt more than Capital's Munich Dark which is, taxonomically speaking, is a dunkles. Methinks only a trip to Germany can solve this conundrum. Since that's not going to happen in the near future, I will have to content myself with domestic brews like Magnetron.

Magnetron looks black from afar but closer inspection of the narrow part of the glass reveals it to be clear and a very deep reddish brown. I didn't get much of a head on my pour which may very well have been my fault. What foam I did get went away fairly quickly. The nose was fairly sweet – like apricots or plums – along with a bit of coffee from the roasted grains.

The beer tasted much like it smelled with some stonefruit-like sweetness sitting alongside the roasty chocolate and coffee flavors. Don't get me wrong here. These flavors are present but not strong. What we have here is very much like a pilsner – clean and restrained – but with some bonus features. The body is medium-light – a bit heavier than a pilsner yet lighter than something like an amber lager. You can taste the bubbles here so the mouthfeel is smooth and sprightly. There isn't much hoppiness to be had until the finish which was dry and featured a little bit of spicy noble bitterness.

While the Magnetron's dark color mirrors the short winter days, it's nothing like a stout or porter. It is not heavy, there is no burnt grain taste, and no single flavor towers over the others. This beer balances malt sweetness and roastiness in a smooth elixir with a bit of noble hops thrown in for good measure and a classic lager finish.

Junk food pairing: Drink Magnetron with Snyder's Bacon Cheddar pretzel pieces. This is a German style of beer so you are basically obligated to eat pretzels with it. But here you have bacon flavoring to complement the roasty grains and cheddar because, well, you pair beer with cheese, right?

Becoming an Einherjar: Night Wolf by Valkyrie Brewing

Back in 2010 Viking Brewing up in Dallas ran into hard time and closed. However, Fate has other plans. Owners Randy and Ann Lee found a buyer for the Viking name, an Icelandic company looking to enter the U.S. beer market. With an influx of cash, the Lees were able to resurrect the venture as Valkyrie Brewing.

It seems that many of the Viking brews were carried over and given new names. Such is the case with Night Wolf, a schwarzbier, which was formerly known as Mørketid.

I poured my Night Wolf into a fancy 3 Sheeps pint glass which I won in the bean bag toss at The Great Taste last month. True to its name, the elixir was dark - black when not held up to the light but a clear and very, very dark amber when given a brief exposure to the sun. I was a bit surprised that there was virtually no head. There was also very little Schaumhaftvermoegen. After taking a swig, the bubbles could get no traction on the side of the glass and gently fell into the beer.

Night Wolf smells fantastic. Most prominent was roasted grain but the yeast was not far off. There was also a faint bit of herbal hop aroma in there as well. Those wonderful scents came through in the taste. Being a lager, it's about letting the grains shine through. The coffee and chocolate flavors of the dark malt lead the way and they are the reason why the schwarzbier is at or near the top of my pyramid of beer tastiness, depending on the day. I am not an expert on German bier styles but it is my understanding that a Munich dunkles is fairly sweet in contrast to the schwarzbier which is more dry and that the dunkels north of Bavaria are noted for being much hoppier than their Bavarian brethren. Having said this, Night Wolf seems to fit the schwarzbier style pretty well although you do get a bit of toffee sweetness just before the finish that leans a few arc second towards a fruity, plum-like flavor.

The finish is where the hops come in with a mild herbal/grassy taste that provides a dry end to your sip. Mouthfeel is smooth and fairly light. People familiar with Sprecher's Black Bavarian, the only other Wisconsin schwarzbier I can think of, will note that Night Wolf has a cleaner taste and feels less syrupy on the tongue. Also, Black Bavarian is a bit shy of 6% ABV while Night Wolf is a much more sessionable 4%.

Viking had some issues with consistency so I was really hoping that this take on one of my favorite styles and my first taste of the brewery's new incarnation wouldn't let me down. And it didn't. To my palate, Randy Lee nailed the dark malt flavors and has made a great session beer for those of us who prefer to avoid the emerging "session IPA" trend. Too bad this stuff is only available in northwestern Wisconsin because I'd love to be taken to the Valhalla of this dark malt goodness more often.

Junk food pairing: Night Wolf goes well with Ritz crackers adorned with a generous serving of bacon-horseradish dip.

Since Valkyrie doesn't distribute anywhere near Madison, I ended up buying my six-pack in Eau Claire at the wonderful Just Local Food Co-op. The prices are eminently reasonable and I was also able to grab brews from Lucette and Lazy Monk, which like Valkyrie, are not available in Madison.