Herold Cerny Lezák (Bohemian Black Lager) 13°

Brewed by Pivovar Herold
Style: Schwarzbier
Breznice, Czech Republic

Bottle. Ruby, brown-so-dark-it’s-black beer with a very dark brown, creamy head. Roasted malt aroma with dark chocolate and caramel. Very very dark, roasty toasty taste, completed by medium bitterness from the hops. Complementary sweetness around the edges. Full-bodied and smooth with some tickling of the tongue. Earthy, chewy, a warrior’s drink indeed! Notes of red berry. Very dry finish. Delightful - big thanks to pivnizub!

Dark brown color. The aroma is nice, with delicate roasted malt. Medium body strength, somehow dry; roasted malt and ashes; not too complex but pleasant and well brewed, most of all the final, with roasted malt, light liquorice, caramel, Fernet Branca herbs.
Good to drink it during this Midsummer day with Swedish fish; in the big Cardinal mug I even think it tastes like some old Swiss dunkel… ;-)

A Mes rate: 50cl bottle from the glorious ’Wine of Course’ in Highgate. Ok, after a rauchbier this is probably not the best time to rate something new but here it is anyway. Pretty decent stuff. Never ordered one of these due to the name (Sim bought it) but it is jolly good. Smokey almost porter type stuff. Chocolate and malty all round. Pretty straight forward but enjoyable all the same. Hints of caramel in the nose. Butter in the flavour. Black body, poor head. Yup its not bad at all.

Poured a dark black brownish color with a nice initial head. The lacing was weak, but the head sustained itself quite nicely. The aroma was of coffee first and foremost, followed by some chocolate, some roastedness, and very light licorice. The flavor was much of the same with some caramel, and as it warmed it really came on nicely. The mouthfeel started too thin, but got respectable after warming.

This is a totally sweet beer, literally and figuratively. You can almost taste the castle cellar used to age this beer for 500 years. Though I am not very familiar with the Schwarzbier, this is my favorite one... ever.

Bottle. Reddish black color with fading tan head. Strong good maltiness in the aroma, with soft roastiness, salty licorice, toffee, some sweetness and some fruitiness. Reminds the aroma of beer poured on the hot stones of sauna. The flavor is dryer than aroma with roastedness (charred), firm bitterness, dark fruits, toffee and saaz hops. Very clean and firm flavor. Dry roasted finish. My favourite schwarzbier!

(Bottle BB 30/12/06) Aroma of caramel, roasted malt, coffee and light hoppy. Black colour and light brown, average size, quickly almost fully diminishing head with fair lacing. Burned malty, sweet, bitter, licorice and coffee-like flavour. Rather heavily carbonated, dry, creamy and medium to full-bodied palate. A very good one and the best Czech beer I’ve tasted so far. 11/05/06

Bottle.
Pours a more or less opaque black, with a small, but nicely foamy brown head.
Aroma is dry, strongly roasted, distinct dark chocolate, and a faint whiff of sweet caramel.
Flavor is (generously medium bodied) strongly roasted and dark chocolate. Very, very stout-like. Starts out quite dry, but reveals a sudden caramelly sweetness as it goes down. Dryish, roasted, dark chocolate aftertaste. Quite delicious.
Smooth creamy palate, somewhat sticky mouthfeel. Absolutely wonderfully enjoyable. A pleasant surprise!