Neuzeller Schwarzer Abt (Black Abbot)

Brewed by Klosterbrauerei Neuzelle
Style: Schwarzbier
Neuzelle, Brandenburg, Germany

This pours a near opaque black with touches of red around the edges. Creamy Mocha head that gives off an aroma of toasted marshmallows with a hint of fruit. The flavor is intensely sweet with a roast malt background. Not a good Schwarzbier, weird sweetness, but some will like this

Bottle. [Tasting at Tølløse 10-03-2007] Black color with a small off-white head. Fair lacing. Aroma was caramel, chocolate, coffee, brown sugar, some fruit. Light bodied and a flat carbonation. Flavor was moderated sweet with light notes of bitterness.

jet black with quickly disappearing head, the aroma is mildly sweet. the flavor is medicinal.

Bottle. Pours dark brown with a massive brownish head – it was all over the place; just a small pour overflowed the glass. Haven’t seen anything like this since I tried mixing Bailey’s with cola (don’t try this at home). Sweetish malty aroma with lots of yeast. Cereal notes. Fruity notes as it warms – maybe plums. Flavour is sweetish (almost cloying) with roasted and smoked notes as well as notes of apple. Fruity. Yeasty notes in the finish. Not very well-balanced. Way too much carbonation – actually a bit hard to drink. Overall this feels like a strange mix of 1) being infected and 2) not being matured long enough. Weird. 29-11-06.

Bottle, off-license in Berlin, Germany.
An enjoyable beer this was. All sticky, big bodied, messy, yet lovely to taste. I don’t know why it rates so low. It poured a blackest shade of ruby, iridescent and softly, finely carbonated. Head was a smooth half inch pad of tan that held there like that for the length and laced well. Aroma is thick and full like the Porter. This one was smoky, burnt and deep with some very complex malts showing. Molasses shined through as does some marmite yeasty notes, burnt sticks, ash and peat, powdered chocolate and beef jerky. Personally it was a lovely waft. Treacly thick and very smooth in the mouth. Big presence of molasses and marmite, firm chocolaty malts and volatiles of bonfires long past. On the swallow it has just a little bitterness and just a zing of overcooked fruit before it trails off long dragging the palate down to the depths. This was far beyond its ABV. It is liquid bread, one that has been charred beyond life, stirred with a pudding and served up as beer. I really liked it. Big in the mouth, sweet but balanced by that charred, smoky effect and smooth. Very nice drinking, but one was enough. Lovely. (50cL, 08/06/07)

Ruby-tinged black pour, big sticky cap of off-white. A bit of coffee aroma and Cheerios. A little lifeless coffee flavor, but other than that, just overwhelmingly sweet. And not enough body or carbonation to justify or balance such sweetness. An odd beer. The more I taste, the more I hate it. And the more it reminds me of flat cola.

Pour is dark black with a thin dense tan head...smell is very roasty with yeast and cocoa...taste is slightly roasty, but chemically sweet....god this is horendous...

(0.5L Bottle) Pours dark with a sweet aroma. Flavor was sweet with a lot of malt. Overly sweet, but if you pair it witht the right foods, it’s a pretty good beer. Actually tastes similar to "Hansiatic Porter". Good mouthfeel. All in all, OK... but gets old after a bottle.