Samuel Adams Black Lager - Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)

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84
good
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2,177 Ratings

rAvg: 3.73
pDev: 13.14%
Reviews: 1420
Hads: 757

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Brewed by:
Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)

Massachusetts, United States

Style | ABV
Schwarzbier | 4.90% ABV

Availability: Year-round. bottle (1415), on-tap (5).

Notes:
No notes at this time.

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Reviews

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Reviews by RichieS2:

RichieS2

Michigan

4.35/5 rDev +16.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This was my introduction to the schwarzbier style and it came as a pleasant surprise. 12 oz bottle poured into a standard pint glass.

Appearance: At first glance I believed that this was a porter or stout. It did not register to me that a lager could look like this; opaque with very little light coming through with some quickly dissipating cream frothiness on top.

Smell: Similar to appearance; upon sniffing it I thought it was a porter/stout. It had the characteristics of roasted malt that you would expect in a dark beer.

Taste: Here is where things got interesting, it had a similar taste to a porter but it was just that it was so lighter in taste and had some traces of sweetness that reminded me of vanilla. This ultimately is what won me over, a complex flavor but with the consistency of a much lighter beer.

Mouthfeel: Initially it was strange, a beer this dark with such flavor swirled around and went down very easily with consistency that approached water.

Drinkability: Good flavor and being light means this is an ideal brew for spring or summer when you still want to enjoy complex flavors but don't want a particularly heavy beer.

Serving type: bottle

01-10-2010 23:06:05 | More by RichieS2

More User Reviews:

InspectorBob

New Jersey

3.75/5 rDev +0.5%

05-21-2013 20:14:28 | More by InspectorBob

johntfox

Florida

3.75/5 rDev +0.5%

05-21-2013 17:59:58 | More by johntfox

Lucoli

New York

2.75/5 rDev -26.3%

05-21-2013 01:09:37 | More by Lucoli

seplo

Connecticut

3.25/5 rDev -12.9%

05-21-2013 00:16:41 | More by seplo

bark

Sweden

3.33/5 rDev -10.7%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

The colour is deep dark brown (70 EBC), the liquid clear. The finger-thick head is brown.

The smell is fresh with a sour touch, some chocolate bar, light clean sweet flavours and a balancing touch of bitterness.

The taste is at first a bit earthy. Roasted sweet notes. It got lots of flavours, but it doesn’t get heavy. Bitterness in the background. Medium body. Chocolate and some roasted malts in the aftertaste as well as passing notes of soap and salty hints. Some cookies in the finish.

The carbonation is medium to light, the small bubbles short-lived. The liquid is somewhat dry.

Not a bad beer at all, although I didn’t like the soapy flavours.

Serving type: bottle

05-19-2013 12:04:04 | More by bark