desurfer (1030), Pinellas Park, Florida, USA May 16, 2008 Clear mahogany body; rocky tan head. Aroma is malty with a slight sourness. Flavor has dark malts, a rich sweetness, and slight hoppiness. Tasty and quaffable; good stuff!
FlacoAlto (2074), Tucson, Arizona, USA Aug 20, 2008 Updated: Aug 21, 2008Born on Date June 2007; Sampled August 2008
Pours into my 25cl tulip glass with a frothy, initially almost three-finger thick, tan colored head. The beer is dark, almost black color that has some caramel tinges to it. When held up to the light the body shows a brilliantly clear, deep red color. The aroma smells of toffee, ample toasted malt, light roast notes, a whole grain cracker note and a touch of sweet grain around the edges that almost has a cherry like fruitiness to it at times.
The carbonation adds a bit of fizziness to the texture and the body is light enough, but does have a medium heft to it. Caramelized notes provide just a touch of sweetness, but not nearly as much as I was expecting after reading that this had artificial sweetener added to it. Toasted whole grain flavors, a touch of cocoa powder, a hint of burnt smokiness, some blackened malt notes and a touch of roast coffee like flavors. The finish has some caramel, almost toffee notes that linger a bit on the tongue as well as a hint of hop bitterness that is quite smooth.
The overall impression of this beer is quite smooth and easy drinking; the dark grain used does not add any of the harsh, sharp or bitter notes that can often be found in darker beers. In this case a little more dark grain presence might provide a bit more complexity & balance, but this is certainly a classic example of a Schwarzbier.
Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ DerWeg (398), Tronna, Ontario, Canada Aug 18, 2008 Nice small bite of patent malt, eminently quaffable dafffy duck. .Lightly sweet. Neither exotic nor in any way subpar. punainen6 (64), Finland Aug 14, 2008 Can. RIch black color. Aroma is fruity with some malts. Taste has coffee and some bread. Abit watery and bland overall. KnN (253), Greenbelt, Maryland, USA Aug 12, 2008 Pours a nice black color with a thin off-white head. Aroma is rye bread and malt Fairly sweet smelling.
Flavor is really nothing special. Pretty thin, fairly sweet. A little coffee. Nothing great. Nik925 (90), California, USA Aug 11, 2008 Mmmmmm, brewed with sweetener...???
This is the thinnest dark beer I’ve ever come across. Decent aroma, and then downhill from there. Nothing special to note. Picked up the bottle for US$1.20 so it has that going for it, but even for the price point this is a disappointment. 3.8%??? I guess sweet n low doesn’t ferment? haha
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