Baron Schwarzbier

Brewed by Baron Brewing & Lunar Brewing
Style: Schwarzbier
Seattle, Washington USA

Bottle pours a clear deep mahogany with a small skin of a tan head. Light roasted aroma and slightly sweet roasted flavor. Light palate and clean. Nice chocolate and slightly sour trailer. Softly carbonated

22 oz bomber. Deep ruby brown, no head (might have been an older beer). Slight chocolate notes give a decent body but lack of carbonation robs it of any bite. A disappointment because its feels like there’s a good beer underneath.

22 oz bomber. Beautiful look on this beer. Nice head, leaving a bit of lace, but all the niceness ended after that. Flat, cardboardy taste that couldn’t be blamed on bad tap lines. Thin, watery... hate to say it, but a macro would taste better than this. A real disappointment.

On tap at Masshiko Japanese restaurant (I love Seattle for having micros on tap at a wide number of restaurants). Gentle chocolate malt nose leads to a somewhat sour chocolatey body and a highly yeasty finish. Nothing special, but quaffable.

On tap at The Taphouse. Pours a clear dark brown with a thin and lacy off-white head. Light body with med-light carbonation. Aroma of butterscotch with herbal hops. Sweet dark malt taste with a dry and slightly grainy finish.

Dark foreboding brown with a clearishness to its body that is fairly evident, even in a sensibly low light. Small, grey tinted paper top of firm foam slips off to a skim pretty quickly; leaving a whispy skim and a thin, firm collar ring. Tiny strings of lace stick. Aroma is pleasantly forward with a very welcome amount of black malt sweeetness, very slight charred molasses and grain husk, a slim chocolateyness, and a gentle earthy dryness on top. Very nice nose. Taste is just as pleasant. The black malt presense is so perfect here. Incredibly forward and absolutely tasty. A generously welcome amount of mildly preserved black malt sweetness is melded in with a well-rounded, firm crispness that lingers behind each sip bringing a tender pull underneath of earth laden, floating dryness of smokey husks, dark fruit skins, and a somewhat slimmer molasses. But the black malt is everywhere to be found. In three fold, palate soaking, goodness. Yum oh yum oh yum... Feel is pretty damn firm with a smooth, semi snappy, medium body and a light threshold of dryness skating around within the finish and a very nice black malt sweetness altogether. Have I mentioned the black malt sweetness is all but fantastic? Well it is. It covers completely and makes the whole beer work for itself in an easy fashion of consumption that is inconceivably solid, smooth and effortless. Wow, what an excellent surprise from Baron out West. Thanks to cvschaller for this gem of a black bier! Yumski yum yum...

Bomber

Pours deep brown with red highlights and a long-lived head. The aroma is sour and musty, with plenty of dark brown bread and a suite of off-aromas that I cannot place. Flavor is again brown-bready, mildly sweet, a bit roasty, but overall unimpressive if not a little bit off.

After the very good Oktoberfest from this brewery, I’m disappointed.

This Schwarzbier pours a deep brown color from a 22oz bottle. Small sized white foamy head. Aroma is chocolate and roasty malts with a touch of earthy hops. Medium to lighter bodied dark lager. Malts are roasty and semi-sweet chocolate. Hops are earthy and floral. Somewhat toasty and nutty tasting. Nice balance. Good carbonation. This beer reminds me of the generic “dark beer”, simple, good and drinkable. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and crisp. Aftertaste is slightly bitter and a touch roasty.