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

Jason

Massachusetts

3.55/5  rDev -4.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

Presentation: 12 oz brown bottle with a freshness date on the side of the label.

Appearance: Brownish red tone around the black liquid, decent lace around the side of the glass.

Smell: Fresh chocolaty and caramel malt aroma, a little grainy and semi-burnt in the back.

Taste & Mouth Feel: Crisp and full bodied, mild burnt notes with a rounded caramel malty backing. Nice balance between the burnt flavor and malt sweetness though the spicy floral hops barely can balance the rest of the sweetness..

Drinkability & Notes: I wish there was a bit more hop bitterness to this I tad too sweet for my liking, either way it’s a delicious beer.

Serving type: bottle

01-25-2005 17:32:14 | More by Jason

allengarvin

Texas

3.95/5  rDev +5.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Brand new six-pack, just arrived at store days ago.

Appearance: Deep dark brown, almost black color. Slight but steady head of tan foam.

Aroma: Sweet cappuccino aroma. Quite nice.

Flavor: Malt is less sweet than the aroma suggests, more of a roasted chocolate flavor. Rich and slightly bready also. Hop bitterness is quite low, lending to a long, sweet finish.

Body: Somewhat thin body, medium carbonation.

Very decent schwarz! Sam Adams recent offerings (this, their Vienna Lager, and Holiday Porter, etc) have almost all very good, and excellent examples of their styles. The Boston Beer Company can certainly make a good beer when they try.

Serving type: bottle

01-19-2005 02:40:20 | More by allengarvin

scottum

Vermont

3.83/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pours out a deep dark brown with a nice full tan headskie. Full roasty flavor with thin mouthfeel. Hop balance is there, but not perfect. This is a very decent lager worth checking out. It is so good to see Boston Beer Company checking out new styles.

Serving type: bottle

01-09-2005 23:39:18 | More by scottum

yankeeheel

Maine

3.63/5  rDev -2.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Part of the "Brewmaster's Collection" series in the winter 12 pk sampler. Pours an opaque brown/black with a thick and firm espresso colored head. Smell is mildly chocolate with a big wiff of coffee mixed in. Tastes quite malty a rich. Lots of roasted malt meets you in the front. Coffee switches to a slightly sweet caramel, that is shortly lived. Almost a little milk creaminess for a second, and then a long moderately bitter/dry finish. Carbonation is well felt and mouthfeel is medium like a porter. Decent brew. I could have two, but to be honest, if you told me it was a porter, I'd never know otherwise.

Serving type: bottle

01-03-2005 22:38:03 | More by yankeeheel

TheJudge

New York

3.8/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

The distributor was in my favorite bar, and the bartender sent him to me to sample this latest offering from Sam Adams. A Black Lager. Not normally my personal favorite, I was of course willing to give him my opinion.

it pours a nice dark color, like a thin porter. Darker than other black lagers I have had. Pretty nice. The chocolate malts hit you in the nose hard. a coffee bitterness comes through as well. Again, stronger than other BL's.

Tastes good. The smell still gets to you. Tries to be a porter, but doesn't have the smoothness needed to pull it off. It is better and tastier than a normal lager. A decent hop finish. I don't think the style quite suits this. It is trying too hard.

I would certainly drink this again. Perhaps before their flagship brand, but after the Boston Ale. Its worth a shot, but if it is a porter you are looking for, get a porter. This will disappoint on that count. But definatly worth a try. Once again Sam Adams gives a good, solid if not spectacular effort.

Serving type: bottle

12-27-2004 21:20:22 | More by TheJudge

bishopdc0

Maine

3.53/5  rDev -5.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Dark dark brown. A decent head forms and maintains a good coverage. The off white head laces on the sides of my glass leaving little bits of head about.

The aroma is roasted with a smooth mix of chocolate and butter. The sweet malt comes in the end to round it out.

The taste is smooth no harsh carbonation at all. The carbonation is light and buttery on the tongue, much like a well poured nitro stout. The flavor is light roasted barley starts with a sweet malt, the roasted flavor remains throughout and finishes with a coffee bitterness and is dry at the end.

Serving type: on-tap

01-11-2011 23:28:08 | More by bishopdc0

berserker256

Michigan

4/5  rDev +7.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This my second review of this beer. In the first one I said there was not much head. I don't know what the hell happened there but I got a lot of head when this one poured out. Must be because the bartender did it. Maybe beers on tap ARE better than from the bottle. It still has that delicious Hershey's Special Dark flavor and it's still creamy and smooth with little carbonation. For some reason I like it a little bit better this time. Perhaps it's because it's only my second beer of the day and I can judge it better or something. I like it. Very bood beer.

Serving type: on-tap

07-18-2008 19:22:54 | More by berserker256

BattleRoadBrewer

Massachusetts

4.13/5  rDev +10.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4.5

Served cold on tap at the Sam Adams Beer Summit Oktoberfest into a pint glass tankard. Very dark ruby red and crystal clear.

Aroma is rich and roasty, a big surprise compared with the bottled version. Almost stout like, but with caramel hints of Munich malt.

Flavor is strongly roasted, dry, not chocolately, but definitely not bitter. The perfect level of roast for the style.

Drinkability is great! Wish the bottled version was so rich. This is definitely for the on-tap version, distinctly superior to the bottled version last sampled a year ago. Beer compares very favorably against German and Czech import schwarzbiers.

Serving type: on-tap

09-15-2007 15:16:41 | More by BattleRoadBrewer

TheBierBand

Ohio

3.9/5  rDev +4.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Had one on tap at one of my favorite downtown Cincinnati venues: Nicholson's. The knowledgable bartender poured me a pint with a perfect 3/4" head.

The initial appearance was black as night... but when held up to the light a slight red appeared around the edges where a tiny amount of light could sneak through.

The aroma contained elements of sweetness, and maltiness.

So, I went in for the taste. I was impressed (as I am with most of Sam's offerings). The sweetness was not overpowering and offset by the right amount of hoppiness to balance.

The mouthfeel was pleasent with a fair amount of carbonation but again not overpowering. It went down easily enough.... next thing ya know.... it was gone!

The head lasted right through till the end.... and laft a light lacing down the pint glass.

As for drinkability, I would definately have this again. Perhaps I'll pick up a sixer or three and share at my next household gathering!

Serving type: on-tap

01-05-2007 22:52:45 | More by TheBierBand

Dukeofearl

California

3.68/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

The Royal Falconer in Riverside, CA. knocked off their Old Speckled Hen tap to have this new, heavily advertised (and propped by the servers) tap in a place that doesn't change taps very often.

Poured into Samuel Adams Black Lager logo stemmed goblet.

At first look, is nothing but black, but actually, when held up to light is a translucent dark brown. A small but well-built head of off white bubbles is quite attractive.

Aroma is of dark roasty malt, more toasty than chocolate/caramel. A slight sweetness wafts up from the glass.

Flavor is roasty, almost light smokiness with a moderate hop finish. No carmale, chocolate, more on the coffee end of the spectrum of flavor profile, although it's not really a coffe flavor. Middle of the road, I guess. Not real complicated

Mouthfeel is lager thin, but clean and refreshing, and easily drinkable. Pretty tasty, and went down very easily.

Serving type: on-tap

08-21-2005 15:41:55 | More by Dukeofearl