Bottled 50cl. Poor nose with hints of hay, honey and metal accompanied by dark chocolate. Poor. Sweet buttery taste with hints of grassy hops and raisins. Metallic and sulphury. Cloying. Some tar sneaking in. Residual sugars in the finish. A mediocre Schwarzbier. Rather dissapointing.

500ml from Sam’s, Durham. Cheap-ass screwcap should have clued me in, but I’ve been digging quality black lagers lately. Alas, the key word is "quality," of which this brew has almost none. Dark brown pour with decent carbonation, the beer gives off a faint aroma of roasted malts that is mildly promising. But while initial sips seem okay, with faintly spicy flavors mingling with modest roasting, it gets awfully watery awfully quickly. A washout of a beer that I considered sending down the drain.

Poured a super dark cola color with just a hint of red at the corners. Aroma was toasted malt and chocolate. Flavor was pretty thin. Some decent malt playing in there, but it was to thin and to bready. "Meh" beer all the way.

500 ml screw top, bb 14.01.09. Nearly opaque dark chocolate with a small lasting head. Aromas of molasses, fresh sweet corn and a whiff of woodsmoke. Tastes of molasses, peppery dry grass, dried wood and a hint of caramel-cocoa. Light-medium body is tingly and dry, but a bit too frothy. Seems to be a good example of the style, but then I guess most people don’t like black pepper in their molasses.

From a bottle--Poured a light dark brown-black body with a hefty beige head. Slightly oxidized, crisp and creamy. Finished spicily hopped and mildly toasty. Not bad. Not great/