Thirsty Bear Black Bear Lager

Brewed by Thirsty Bear Brewing Company
Style: Schwarzbier
San Francisco, California USA

On tap. dark brown with a warm tint of orange and a creamy beige head leaving some laces. Sweet aroma of hard roasted malt and a little butter. Medium body, hard roasted malt and vanilla. Dry, malt bitter finish with some coffee accents. 100709

From tap at the brewpub. Pours dark brown with a small tan head. Roasted malt and light coffeeish aroma. Roasted malty flavoured, sweet and vague toffee/butterish flavoured towards a mild roasted acidity. Bitter and roasted finish.

Date: July 09, 2009
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: black with ruby edges
Aroma: light roasted aroma, light sweetness
Flavor: rich roasted malt flavor, dark chocolate bitterness, light caramel sweetness, lasting bitter finish
Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.1/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

I had this on tap at the Thirsty Bear Brewpub during RBSG 2009 with kp, beerguy101 and beastiefan roasty, yet with a sweet element to it that just didn’t quite work for me.

~Pours a clear dark amber with white head. ~Malty, yeasty, and spicy sweet scent. ~Nice malt flavor on this one. Not too sweet, light citrus hops. ~Light feel, bittersweet finish. Some tingles on tongue. ~Enjoyable brew. Better than expected.

I had this on tap. It is a nice schwarzbier-type. It is almost black, with a medium, light brown head that steadily diminishes to a thin top and lasting ring of foam. The aoms is pleasant, mild aroma is toast with hints of chocolate, coffee. It’s dry, smooth, and clean. The taste is similar, on the lighter side for the style, but still with a good fullness and range of flavour. It’s mostly toasted grain with light chocolate and coffoee elements - a bit dry and rather clean, but light on complexity and depth. Ther e is a faint licorice quality but this is weak. It’s still tasty, though, and very drinkable.

$6 pint at the brewpub. Lots of black patent malts in the nose. Holy ash-tray. ig-time smokiness. This stuff smells like a hybrid of smoky bowling alley and Northern New York white trash. Moderately transparent black body with a light tan head that leaves decent lacing. Kind of thin, watery, and chalky with a roasted, burnt chocolate flavor. A bit musty, too. Not much in the way of hops. Pretty bland, thin, and unimpressive.

Halloween black orange. Fine, nitro-looking head. Aroma seems strongly suggestive of their dry stout. Malts come across soft and rounded in the flavor, with less than expected roastiness. An odd character of grape continually comes through. Creamy, smooth finish.