Fort Collins The Kidd Lager (Schwarzbier)

Brewed by Fort Collins Brewery
Style: Schwarzbier
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Pours dark brown. Light is seen through glass. Small head. Aroma of smoke and chocolate. Taste is the same, with some caramel sweetness. Flavor is moderately sweet and lightly bitter. Medium body. Finishes with some smoke and bitterness.
If I were giving someone their first smoked beer, it might be this one. (even though it’s not a ’smoked’ beer by style) The smoke is not overpowering, but it’s substantial. Quite well done.

Bottle from Capone’s. Deep brown pour with 1-finger tan head. Aroma of roasty, slightly rauchy malt, tart cherry, brown sugar, hops, molasses, tobacco...very unique aroma here. The flavor is very roasty chocolatey malty, with hops, brown sugar, nuts, and slight fine tobacco hints. Nicely rich, complex palate. This one is wonderful.

Bottle. Sweet nose of chocolate and malted milk balls. Lots of malt. Dark red body, clear, with a lacing tan head, cream and yummy. Thin, slightly acidic body. Taste same as in the nose but with some a bit of dry roast. Slight sourness and slight bitterness, with sweetness just edging out the other two. Taste kind of fritters away quickly. Smooth. Dark malty aftertaste with some nuts. This is a porter, not a Schwarzes, (this brewer’s Chocostout is more of a Schwarzes) yummy in any case. Big-time quaffer.

A surprisingly dark brown pour with a light brown head. An aroma of caramelly malt. A flavor of almost sweet but not hardly malt. The flavor reminds be a bit of strong coffee with carbonation. Good carbonation and a pretty solid palate across the board. I almost didn’t buy this beer because it said lager on the label. Now I’m glad I did pretty good beer.

Bottle from Frugal McDugal in Nashville, TN. It’s about time we get some new beers in town! Pours a deep brown with a diminishing khaki head. Earthy aroma of dark roast, peanuts, and peat moss. Medium light texture and with some prickly carbonation. Initial flavor of dark roast and milk chocolate than transitions to a nutty middle with faint smoke. Finish is semi dry, slightly acidic, with a spicy hop bitterness and lingering mineral flavors. Something odd lingers on the palate that I can’t seem to pinpoint. This reminds me of a good brown porter but with lager yeast. Not bad, especially if you prefer "beers of a darker shade." This beer would greatly improve with bottle conditioning.

This was much better than i was anticipating. Pours black, as one might expect. Fading tan head. Nice chocolatey, Oreo cookie-esque aroma. Or Hydrox cookie aroma. Surprisingly full bodied - If this were a blind test I’d probably call it a porter. Smooth and chocolatey, with a hint of vanilla, as well. Really nice.

Sample size: Brown pour with nice chocolate, coffee and mild smoke nose. Fairly thin body is suprisingly flavorful with mild bitter chocolate and again smoky tones. A beginners entry into trying smoked beers.

A very good Schwarzbier. Lots of coffee, chocolate and carmel flavors. The aroma is similar. A very dark brown color blocks out the light. I could drink a lot of this stuff. This is how you get people turned onto dark beer.