Buzzards Bay Black Lager

Formerly brewed at Just Beer (fka Buzzards Bay Brewing)
Style: Schwarzbier
Westport, Massachusetts USA

12oz bottle-pours a dissipating tan head and black color. Aroma is ashy then dark fruit-prune/fig, some off putting notes. Taste is sweet dark malt-molasses/toffee, dark fruit-prune, some hops bite. Soft, nice. Thanks to donkeyrunner/Shane for this trade with jwc215 & me.

Deep cola brown with low effervescence and a slowly fading tan head. Rather straight burnt grain nose, consideraly roasty, almost powdery and feeling quite dry from it. Minimal blackberry fruitiness is obstructed by the roast. Light bodied and relatively drinkable thanks to its crisp consistency and engaging, if pushed, carbonation. Slight leafy hop finish provides an appreciated deepening bitterness.

Bottle at Chris_o’s "smash Kook’s granny tasting". Alround rating: Roast black malt, some herbal and grasys hop, over carbonated. The generic 3.

My Bottom Line:
This simple and dry Schwarzbier transports roasted bread crumbs into leafy hops for a bitter and bubbly quaffer.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A sheet of foam covers the dark brown.
-Furtive spicy hops are found in the nose.
-Light caramel is felt throughout.
-The body is lean, as is to be expectied of the style.
-This is very drinkable, but lacking character to really stand out in its style category.

Bottle.

Pours almost flat with a thin ring of bubbles around the rim lof the glass. Smells fruity and nutty with some grass in the background. Tastes of cookie dough and slightly toasty.

Bottle. Pours a brown body with a tan head. Some lagered notes, light fruity esters, a hint of caramel and coco. not bad.

Bottle at Sunset Grill on 2/25/06. Fairly vigorous pour yields a rather small amount of head, that is not long retained, fading to a light smattering of cover and then ring, leaving no lacing. Large bubbles throughout the liquid, force carbonated and all, and clear as day. The liquid is a rosy, magenta-tinged mahogany with some deep strands of amber as well. Head is dark beige. The nose shows quite a bit of breadiness. Heavy sourdough maltiness, very munichy, with lightly astringent toasted grain notes, a dab of light coffee and a creamy sweet ending, flecked with mildly herbal-spicy noble hops. The flavor opens up with tons of breadiness and a high amount of drying graininess. Heavy sourdough again, with sweet buttercream, light vanilla and a graceful dark chocolate note that cuts the sweetness rather well. Though, the sweetness is not difficult to get through, the heavily drying breadiness seeing to that. Low hop apparency, only mildly spicy notes towards the end. Dry plant-like bitterness notes that I get from something like Guinness or Murhpys, and no alcohol. The texture is too loose for a schwarzbier, while the overdone carbonation inherent to all Buzzard’s Bay bottled beers breaks up what comforting, creamy maltiness there could be.

Pours a nice deep dark woody brown- almsot black with some ruby highlights- nice foamy lasting beige head and awesome lace. Aroma is toasty malts, some light munichs, but a nice sharp chocolate with roast as well- crisp and clean with some spicy noble hop as well. Flavor is crisp clean-- some light cookie dough malts, toast, sharp dark chocolate, clean crisp bitterness- fresh. Nice Schwarz.