Schell Dark

Brewed by August Schell Brewing Company
Style: Dunkel
New Ulm, Minnesota USA

If this is supposed to be a good dunkel, then I don’t like dunkels. Attractive, yes, but seriously lacking in the other, perhaps even more important catagories. Very slight, semi-sweet aroma, and a watery, somewhat sweet, caramel malt flavor. Watery, and quite boring. I seriously doubt I’ll ever have another one of these.

Sampled from a 12 oz clear bottle this beer poured a chestnut color with a small tan head. The aroma is sour tangy macro malts. The flavor is sour and tangy macro malts with a long smooth middle and a slightly bitter finish. Somewhat bland but quite drinkable.

From a clear twist off 12 oz. bottle with a blurb on the back label, no freshness date. Poured a clear ruby hued brown with a foamy, bubbly topped head. Aromas of caramel malts, a light nuttiness and butter toffee. Good carbonation and a crisp, smooth light bodied mouthfeel. Tastes of caramel malts with that Schell’s metallic edge, nutty, a subtle spiciness, buttery and a watery roasted malty finish. O.K., passable, but that’s about it, not a dunkel I could drink everyday.

Bottle. Pours golden brown with nice head. Looks fizzy but does not feel overcarbonated in the mouth. Palate surprisingly full. Nutty/sweet taste is pleasant but not very robust. Bonus points for pleasant drinkability. Maybe I am that cretin that doesn’t want "all the flavor" in my specialty craft.

12oz. draught at Sanford’s in Rapid City, SD. Aroma is very bready, very lightly fruity and full of dark caramel sweetness, not terribly complex or exciting but definitely there. Clear red-brown color with a slight, fine head. Flavor profile follows aroma closely, sweet and bready with a slight fruity accent, more dark caramel and brown sugar noted along with hints of green apple and very faint yeast accents. Typically clean palate with a moderate amount of effervescence. Lighter bodied. Seemingly fairly ordinary dunkel.

Pours dark brown with a little bit of a head. Light aroma of nutty malt. Sweet flavor. Decent.

One of my favorite commercial descriptions to date: "The perfect beer for people who want a specialty craft beer, but may not want all the flavor and heaviness." (My italics added.) What’s the point of drinking a beer if you don’t want "all that flavor?" Well, Schell delivered as promised.

Nice deep caramel color, but little of any head. (What’s the point of looking too good?) Faint aroma (Who cares?) consisting of a sweet, lightly toasty malt. Watery. (Just right!) Not too sweet, just some dry toast with a little syrup and no discernable hops. (Hops? We don’t need no stinkin’ hops!) The finish is lightly sweet and fades quickly. (Right on target!)

As I wrote above, Schell delivered as promised.

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Draft at Old Chicago in SD. Clear dark brown color with an average frothy white head that diminished slowly with fair lacing. Moderate toasted malt aroma. Medium body with a sticky texture. Medium sweet flavor with a medium sweet short finish. My expectations were not met.