Samuel Adams Black Lager

Brewed by Boston Beer Company
Style: Schwarzbier
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Bottle 08’. Pour is dark and the head was thin and fast fading. Sweet chocolate and coffee flavour development. Light bodied like a lager and roasty like a porter. Nice brew.

Not a fan of Sam Adams, and just because it is dark does not mean it is good. Sweet and roasty chocolate malt taste. Lightly sweet watery finish. No bitterness anywhere. Pretty smooth, but way to thin and light bodied for a beer like this.

Poured dark and heavy. Nice aroma, tasted lots of chocolate. Definitely recommend.

Very dark pour, almost black with a tan head. Aroma is a heavy malt and a little caramel. Taste is very smooth and soft with malt and dark chocolate flavor. Leaves a slight bitter aftertaste in your mouth which helps balance everything. Pretty decent American brew, I would buy it again.

Malty notes of toast, oatmeal, and muffins. A veritable continental breakfast. Light grassy hops in the middle, but curiously fade back to malts in the end. A little raisin toward the end. Good all around.

Poured dark - but not black - hint of red. I detected little in the aroma - taste was good. finally a SA that doesn’t taste like every other SA. I enjoyed this but wont rush back for more.

Robust chocolate red. Cola-like sweetness, rich earth and campfire smoke, and chocolate-hued vinous swells in the nose. Quiet and calm; a bit sugary. Just a touch of peppermint-tinted menthol; off-putting but not spoiling. The rich malt characters are there, the clean character of low alcohol doesn’t strip away any of the meatiness of that maltiness, and so it’s quite pleasant.

Flavor is soft and anise-driven, generous in smooth sweetness and distinctive wooden smokiness. The dried caramel and deep red fruit sweetness is an old and easy friendship of flavors. There’s a soft dryness present in the middle, that has a cinnamon spiciness about it; caky, and sweet. Its simplicity and easiness in the roast character is pretty fitting; it seems to highlight the nuances of the munich malts and the yeast character more than many I’ve had, and I really like that; it isn’t so much a thin bodied roast-heavy example as it is a thicker fruit-heavy example. A bit of sweetcorn and mineral toughness arrives nearing the finish, but in a surprisingly easy and palatable form; more as an afterthought.

Medium palate is softly carbonated and quite smooth; finishes semi-sweet and lightly sticky with a heavy licorice and root beer sweetness that lingers too readily, and too simply; altogether, though, the cleanness of sweet flavors in this beer is something very satisfying. It’s a richness designed for the lager drinker, and it’s pretty immaculately done.

Bottled sample via mnurda. Near black in colour with medium carbonation. Aromas of heavy malts, caramel, a bit of roast and a hint of tar. Malts are the major flavor too, with caramel and chocolate notes being rounded out by some dryness and a hint of spicy hops. A solid schwarzbier, but not quite as elegant or refined as the best ones are.