Wynkoop B3K Schwarzbier

Brewed by Wynkoop Brewing Company
Style: Schwarzbier
Denver, Colorado USA

10.02.05 Tap at brewery. Oh boy! Finally another schwarzbier. Oh no! It’s an out of control butter bomb! Massive diacetyl aromas and flavors are so dominant as to be distracting from thinking about anything else with this brew. Thin bodied and, damn it, I was really looking forward to a schwarz.

Couleur foncée se dirigeant vers le noir. Mousse brune pale adhérant faiblement à la paroi du verre. Arômes de butterscotch, énormément diacetyl, sous des notes d’acidité, de café et de chocolat. Très sucrée en bouche, diacetyl toujours présent se dirigeant par la suite vers des flaveurs de malts rôti, hautement torréfié. En fût à la brasserie, Septembre 2005.

Tap at brewery. Second example of the style, so maybe I ain’t Einstein as far as schwarzbier goes but I know what I like and this ain’t it. Pours a rich brown/black. Aroma is stale vinegar. Flavor is stale raisin and vinegar. Palate is coating. Tastes like dishwater with rancid beer. Almost unfinishable. In fact, if I hadn’t paid for it, I would not have finished it.

Tiny off-white head tops the clear cola hue. Muddy old coffee and faint almond maltiness pair along with grapes to form the nose which is pretty linear with the palate, the latter is very thin and rather tart. The usual tart/tobacco and roasty combination accompanied by more residual sugars and diacetyl than I’d wish for make this a rather weak example.

Draught. Head is mostly lasting. Body is dark brown. Aroma is moderately malty (roasted grain, caramel, coffee), with a STRONG note of diacetyl, light note of minerals. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately bitter. Light to medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation. WOOOOOOO! Diacetyl out the wazoo. Butter butter butter butter butter, to no end. Fortunately, though, the malt characters are strong as well, so all is not lost. Reasonable flavor balance. If this was cleaned up, we might have a nice little beer here. Tragic.

Draught @ Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver, Colorado. Dark brown body underneath a thin, creamy head. Mildly eccentric malt smell, heavily roasty, dry and dark, with hints of milk chocolate and heavily creamed coffee. Light and approachable upon tasting with sufficient yeast contribution, delicate fruit and chocolate flavors, followed by a light finish of dried cocoa. I found this to be a well extracted and tasty example, from a style that isn’t always brewed well.

Draught. Pours black with brown hints and tan foamy head and lined spotty lacing. Sour yeast (sweat) and malt (straw) and dark roasted nutty malt. Bitter sweet dark roasted malt flavor. Dark and watery palate.

A pale brown beer with a fine light brown head. The aroma is very light - what is there is of roasted malt. The flavor is sweet with notes of caramel combined with light roasted notes.