Herold Cerny Lezák (Bohemian Black Lager) 13°

Brewed by Pivovar Herold
Style: Schwarzbier
Breznice, Czech Republic

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!

Black colored, slight hints of red. Little beige head. Roastiness, coffee, sweetness and caramel in aroma, rich nose indeed. Medium bodied. Flavor is strongly roasted with sweetness, still ending turns out to be nicely hopped, bitter and dry. Fine schwarzbier, feels like mix of some stouts and porters.

Bottle, at Wojarski. Black with a large brown head, fine lacings. Aroma moderate malty (burnt, smoky) and hoppy. Flavor moderate sweet and bitter. Light to medium body, oily, soft carbonated. Smooth as velvet.

A very dark red-brown beer with a nice bubbly brown head. The aroma is quite sweet with primary notes of caramel, but also some roasted malt and straw. The flavor is also quite sweet with strong notes of caramel and roasted malt - almost burnt malt, the end is dry from the roastyness and somewhat bitter from the hops. A very crisp beer. The mouthfeel is very smooth.

Bottled. Very dark brown, close to black colour, mediumsized brown head. Roasted malts and coffee in aroma with caramel coming in a bit weaker. Strong roasted malts and espresso coffee in flavour. Hops comes in aftertaste, along with roast. Extremely wellbalanced and excellent mouthfeel. I think I just got myself a new favourite Czech beer!

Bottled, labelled as Pivovar Herold Bohemian Black Lager (BB 12/2006)
Very dark ruby, nice tan head. Roasted coffee beans, caramelly aroma, sweet notes are dominating. Similar to Kozel Cerny, but stronger nose. Very good mouthfeel, balanced. Very roasted, coffee malty flavor with nice Saaz hopping giving long bitter aftertaste. One of the best Schwarzbiers and one of the best Czech beers.

(Bottle 50 cl) Comes as "Herold Bohemian Black Lager". Pours a deep, dark mahogany with a warm tint of red and a creamy, beige, cappuchinoish head. Malty aroma with notes of coffee and dried fruit. Medium body with accents of lightly burned malt. But otherwise this is an extremely complex, vinous - as in port wine - brew with some underlying sweetness. Some coffee returns in the finish. My bottle was 8 months past its best before date, but it really has aged gracefully. 130406

(Bottled) Opaque, almost black color with a large, beige and foamy, lacy and fading head. Aroma of dark coffee, roasted malt, caramel, licorice hints, plus some hops. Very smooth, burned-malty, chocolatey, creamy coffee flavor. Medium-bodied, strongly burned-chalky, creamy and foamy-carbonated palate. Certainly enjoyable and interesting, full and quite balanced, very stout-like schwarzbier - despite the very high color malt content. This is something I could actually buy again!