Penn Dark Lager Beer

Brewed by Pennsylvania Brewing Company
Style: Dunkel
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA

Bought from a Penn variety case. This was my favorite of the 4 varieties between this, wheat, pils, and golden. Dark amber in color, decent head. Very smooth, light chocolate flavor.

Tap at Hop Devil Grill. Deep brown beer with a thin white head. Aroma is malty and sweet with toasted caramel, toasted nuts and a fairly soft sweetness. Earthy bitterness behind the malty sweetness. Chewy texture, toasted nuts and an oddly industrial maltiness on the back. I expect better from these guys.

A good beer with a chocolate and syrup taste. Decent head and very smooth. Had at the Brewery in the Burgh from those milk jugs they give you. A little too watery and weak, but good.

Bottle. Slightly sour, gritty aroma with a dash of sweet caramel. Dark brown body with red highlights, fizzly tanned head. Sweetish, slightly nauseating flavor, stale and slightly astringent with not a lot going for it. Thin, watery body. Stale and bad.

Bottle poured into .5L glass. Dark chocolate color with big fluffy head. Not much aroma at all and what little there is, I don’t like. Taste is malty with a hint of chocolate, much better than the aroma. Smooth, easy drink but not very exciting.

A bit sour up top and sort of a blood-like metallicness in the end, but I have to give this one bonus points for the extra-malty taste that evokes smoke, prunes and burnt chocolate. Otherwise, unspectacular and a bit thin. But a pretty surprisingly good traditional Dunkel with a bit of American ingenuity.

THOUGHTS: I was dying to try this for over a year. I bought a variety pack once and was disappointed to not find this in it. It was worth the wait. Lots of chocolate, coffee and caramel flavors. A malty delight. A very good beer all the way around. I’ve relly been into doppel bocks recently and this really seemed to be like a session version of a doppel bock. TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a flat, medium to dark brown with red highlights and a small,. off-white head that mostly diminished. The aroma was moderate caramel, dark chocolate and mild coffee. The initial flavor was lightly sweet and bitter, while the finish was heavily sweet, moderately acidic and bitter with an average duration. The medium body was slightly syrupy but dry with fizzy carbonation and a lightly astringent finish.

Pours a dark brown with a medium tan head. Nose is of yeast, grain, some malts. Very mild, nothing exciting here. The taste is mild as well. Some yeast, really light chocolate, and dark malts. Easy drinking, but lacking on the flavor aspect. Some bitterness and even the slightest bit of some caramel as well. Drinkable, but not exciting in the least bit.