Mönchshof Schwarzbier - Kulmbacher Brauerei AG

DrDemento456

Pennsylvania

4.55/5  rDev +12.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Got a bottle of this at my local place for 5.00

A - Greeted with a "pishhh" from the Grosh type swing top which locks in the freshness. A nice semi dark brown (lighter than expected) beer with a hefty inch of head.

S - Slight coffee and cocoa nips on the nose with a mild hint of burnt coal and leather.

T - MMM. Chocolate assault that easily rounds to a bitterness of coffee and malt in the finish. Really wanted more flavors but they are vivid and constant. Very nice.

M - I really appreciated that it drank like Guinness with less bitterness.

D - Man do Germans got this down! It was a surprise to find this much flavor in a beer but it might be able to use more smoke, but DON'T change a thing! A perfect brew! Shame it's 5.00 a bottle but one must pay an imported price for a great brew!

Serving type: bottle

11-12-2010 08:47:17 | More by DrDemento456

Nipitato

Massachusetts

4.58/5  rDev +13.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Picked up a bottle at Julio's Liquors in Westborough, MA.

A: Toffee hue with significant red highlights. Nice just off white head with good and thick retention. Sticky lacing left behind on glass as beer is imbibed.

S: robust and hearty sweet malt aroma with slight caramel and bready notes. Subtle coffee like roasted aroma. Clean lager yeast character balances.

T: Good malt flavor that is sweet and rich. Roasted flavor is very subtle with nice lingering finish. Some hop bitterness at the end. Again, clean lager character balances. This is a great tasting beer.

MF: Smooth, very smooth. Medium light body. Moderately high carbonation.

D: A very good beer. Quite drinkable. To me an ideal gateway beer to turn BMC drinkers on to their different options.

Serving type: bottle

06-21-2007 17:15:58 | More by Nipitato

brewdlyhooked13

Ohio

4.6/5  rDev +13.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Appearance - pours a caramel ruby color, nearly two fingers of light mocha froth on top.

Aroma - rich roasted grain aroma, hints of coffee beans. Captivating!

Taste - lots of roasted character, I can almost taste the fire this malt was kilned from. A trace of sweetness on the leading edge, the swallow brings out a flood of roasted flavors once more, warming up this time with roasted coffee and perhaps a hint of chocolate. Good stuff.

Mouthfeel - slightly heavy, medium carbonation, a good solid beer body to this one.

Drinkability - great flavor, fine sessionability, and a reasonable price.

Serving type: bottle

03-15-2007 19:33:28 | More by brewdlyhooked13

Hullabaloo2

Nebraska

4.6/5  rDev +13.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Aroma - Low munich malty aroma. Worty; smells like the mash tun. I didn't pick up any hop aroma.

Appearance - Clear dark brown with nice ruby highlights. Tan head with good head retention. Head poured about 1 finger width.

Taste - Munich maltiness, low roast, low bitter chocolate. Not astringent. Extremely low perceived bitterness. Very low noble hop flavor. Dry, lingering finish.

Mouthfeel - Medium body. Medium carbonation. Very smooth all the way through.

Overall Impression - This a really good beer. I do much of my evaluations of beer based on the BJCP guidelines. I use BJCP because I feel that they are the most defined, and this Schwarzbier fits the BJCP guidlines perfectly. It's not very often that I find a beer that fits so well into the style guide. Give this beer a try.

Serving type: bottle

01-31-2009 21:20:11 | More by Hullabaloo2

Boto

Connecticut

4.63/5  rDev +14.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A suprise find at the CT River Brewers Festival.

This beer poured a very dark black color. There was a thick tan head along with it. There was a big malt sweetness to the nose. Nice hint of roastiness and chocolate in the aroma. Full bodied beer with a hint of chocolate to the taste. Not really sweet at all. This was excellent! It might be one of the best of this style.

Serving type: bottle

09-10-2003 00:32:19 | More by Boto

frazbri

Ohio

4.63/5  rDev +14.6%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Poured almost black, with deep golden accents, topped by an abundent white head. Bread and clover honey aromas, somewhat fruity. Sweet starting. Carmel and hazelnuts with a mild bitter finish. Light in body, medium carbonation and a dry finish.

The label on the Monchshof Schwarz proclaimed it to be a world classic. The beer didn't disappoint. The body was a translucent deep brown, accented by bronze. The head acted as a billowing cumulous cloud. The taste was sublime. I believe the label was right. World Classic or damn near it.

Serving type: bottle

06-22-2005 01:01:17 | More by frazbri

thelagerheads

Michigan

4.65/5  rDev +15.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

Being as I am a self-professed intuitist and a novice cockswain on the draught boat I go by a completely different set of beer standards than some dude who makes love to a row of barley like it's a buxom and swanky woman. I'm in it to become more ignorant and farcical than I presently am. Plus I'm thirsty and heading for diabetes, amputation, adult diapers and musty white pubes so I might as well get some olfactory bliss and whatever the hell the pansophist's euphemism for sense of taste is while I'm able. This stuff is akin to Samuel Adams Black Lager but with some thousand dollar black licorice stuffed into its pretty mouth. I could see me waltzing with this beer and settling down in Denmark to raise my fourteen illigitimate cyclops sons all named Adolph with her (again with this humanizing!). To and fro, my arm lifting the swingtop and spinning the little lusty tramp around and around my mouth like a mouthful of liquid gold and black jelly bird eggs. Happy birthday little ones! All the rings of Saturn and a milky way of stars for this special one.

Serving type: bottle

06-30-2006 16:21:27 | More by thelagerheads

Riverwarrior

Texas

4.65/5  rDev +15.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

This is one "sinister" beer due to it's dark, black appearance....yet it is wickedly tasty!!

S = Caramel, roasted coffee, and woodsy element in the background.

T = Fantastic mixture of sweetness (caramel with a hint of butterscotch) and a very faint hop bitterness near the end. The slight bitterness quickly disappeared, leaving a long finish of semi-sweet caramel bread.

MF = Thick, creamy, and smooth as velvet. The carbonation was moderate.

Overall, this is the best Schwarzbier that I've ever tasted, and one of the best beers, regardless of category, that I've had.

Serving type: bottle

03-15-2008 12:18:33 | More by Riverwarrior

Haus

Wisconsin

4.68/5  rDev +15.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Sweet flip-top bomber.

Inviting brown colored beer with a nice tan to light brown colored head.

This beers aroma is mostly of grain and patent malt with hints of chocolate/charred malt and smoke.

Starts out almost dry with a strong malt flavor. Very much a heavily roasted malt beer, a bit of sweetness coming through with the ample carbonation hits your tongue. The flavors become really more pronounced once you let this one warm up.

Mouthfeel is good.

Overall a tasty beer that I will definitely drink again.

Serving type: bottle

Serving type: bottle

11-10-2011 17:24:46 | More by Haus

Lynux

Missouri

4.72/5  rDev +16.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Nice creamy two finger head poured into a stemmed goblet style glass. Dark mahogany color and sticky lacing on the glass

Smells of sweet caramel malt, roasted carafa malt and toffee

Taste is delicious caramel/toffee with some roastiness and a little hop in the finish.

Nice slick mouthfeel and extremely drinkable. Great example and the best I've had of the style.

This just beat out Kostritzer for my favorite schwarzbier!

Serving type: bottle

01-05-2009 01:49:04 | More by Lynux

selecter70

Massachusetts

4.72/5  rDev +16.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Fantastic schwarzbier in a 1pt. 9oz bottle with ever-so fun flip top. Greatly anticipating this offering from the lovely folks at Monchshof, the pour was a smooth dark brown bordering on black, with crimson-red edges where the light shone through. A full tan head of 2 fingers sat and left some good lace while drinking. The aroma was a deeply roasted malt with nuts and a hint of toffee in the vein of a nice porter. The flavor was a great rich continuation of the aroma with the hint of espresso added and a nice hop edge at the end with a wee tad of lemon. A fantastic, smooth & rich delicious beer that I could drink all night. I'm sad to say that I only had one.

Serving type: bottle

01-16-2009 18:49:51 | More by selecter70

mempath

Pennsylvania

4.72/5  rDev +16.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

seems like the color of cola as it is poured...but held to light, it is much more transparent and reddish, like an extreme cream soda. beautiful thick lacing and a head that settles very slowly, retaining a jelly, jolly sort of consistency. very nice to gaze at...

first nose notes are the maltiness, followed by that slight burned/coffee/chocolate aspect. catching some yeastiness and perhaps hops. a little fruit.

i don't know, but if i was blindfolded, i would've immediately guessed i was having a Guinness Draft. In Ireland...even the head's retention looks creamy like GDraft. always right on the edge of going bitter or burnt, those playful elements hold back and keep things incredibly tasty and smooth. not challenging, but i wouldn't want that here. nothing to search for...let it find you. this is definitely a delight. not a beer for simple palates at all. i'm impressed.

the quote on the back from expert MJackson is fitting: "a brewing wonder"...creamy mouthfeel plays on the one extreme with the carbonation. just simply quite drinkable and quite a session brew for sure.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Serving type: bottle

12-26-2009 16:57:24 | More by mempath

micromaniac129

Pennsylvania

4.72/5  rDev +16.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A super deep brown color with flickering ruby high lights. A tan and tall and fluffy cloud of a foam topper. Great lacing and well carbonated. Aroma has a rich and velvetty feel. Lots of roasted malts and molasses in the scent. Richly malted with roasted malts and molasses. As an added bonus there is also a sutle smokiness in the taste...excellent. Has a medium feel thats quite smooth going down.
An easy drinking smooth flowing killer of a beer.
Definitely one of my favorites.

Serving type: bottle

01-15-2012 16:11:02 | More by micromaniac129

beergynt

Illinois

4.75/5  rDev +17.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

On tap at Bavarian Lodge in Lisle... Served in a Mönchsof mug (0.3L, I think), Beautiful dark molassas colored beer. Help up to the light, it reminded me of root beer. Just enough head for full coverage with little to no lacing. I loved the smell of this beer! Light and sweet roasty malt and a nice nuttiness that reminded me of hazelnuts... I love the taste even more! Perhaps it was complimented by the delicious roast duck tenders that arrived at the same time, but this just seemed almost too refreshing for a beer with it's dark color. Maltiness up front, mixing with the hazelnut mid palatte, finishing clean with noble hops... My mouth was very happy with me for choosing this beer. Smooth and refreshing; velvety and clean at once... I would love to have this beer again and again... Next time I think I'll get a liter!

Serving type: on-tap

09-16-2007 16:45:43 | More by beergynt

RochefortChris

South Carolina

4.75/5  rDev +17.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

Poured black into a weizen glass with a nice creamy off white head. Nice roasted aroma and full mouth feel. Taste consisted of coffee notes with roasted chocolate and slight licorice. The best part was it was not overly heavy making it a great session beer. Overall a very delightful beer and one I will definitely have again.

Serving type: bottle

10-03-2012 18:53:25 | More by RochefortChris

BeerBob

Nebraska

4.78/5  rDev +18.3%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Mönchshof Schwarzbier pours “Schwarz” (Black) from a 1PT .9FL OZ blackish brown glass porcelain (on closer inspection... white plastic swing top stopper) glass bottle. Light tan head of fine foam bubbles went to well over two fingers in height before collapsing to a well defined ring with large islands of foam and lace all along the side of my 48oz beer stein.

Nose is a major malt event with wave after wave of malty sweetness washing over the olfactory organ.

Palate is sweet barely malt with some burnt elements followed by the dry bittering of hops.

This brew starts sweet, then migrates to a well bittered brew with a drying finish. Not a porter and not a stout, but not too far from either. In retrospect I believe that some of the dry stout offerings are in fact more of a “Schwarzbier” than a stout.

This is an incredible offering from Kulmbacher Brauerei and in my humble opinion, a must try!

Serving type: bottle

09-21-2005 03:03:11 | More by BeerBob

jneiswender

Massachusetts

4.78/5  rDev +18.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

Had this beer on tap at the Moan and Dove. Served in a pint glass at a cool but not cold temperature.

A-beige head which was nice and thick with a very dark garnet body.

S-roasted grain and fresh baked bread smell

T-nice and sweet but balanced with the up front toast and roasted grain flavor.

M-medium

D-So incredibly tasty. Great beer for the malt heads. I would drink this beer again.

Serving type: on-tap

02-23-2010 01:48:08 | More by jneiswender

bierman2000

Pennsylvania

4.85/5  rDev +20%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

The beer was enjoyed at the brewery in Kulmbach the best black beer in the world IMO!
Rich dark brown head that lasted throughout the half liter glass as the maltiness was very present and roasty.
It was very refreshing and went well with the Nurnberger sausages if you're in Bavaria also a must to eat with spicy mustard. Mouthfeel smooth and silky which leads to it being highly drinkable as well as a low ABV.

Serving type: on-tap

07-10-2003 09:52:06 | More by bierman2000

Realale

Missouri

4.85/5  rDev +20%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Clear walnut with some deep garnet. Very large, very fine slightly sticky light brown head settles slowly to a complete rocky cap leaving nice lacing.

Touch of toffee leads over dark, slightly husky chocolate. Just a touch of roastiness as well. There's a solid malty goodness lurking below to support it all. Complex, interesting, and well-balanced.

Heavy side of medium in the mouth with excellent rich malt of the bready sort. Roast and chocolate notes are there, as well as a touch of dried cherry fruitiness. Complexity, interest and balance again.

Excellent soft, filling mouthfeel - seems to get into every crack and crevice of the mouth. Great length with a touch of spicy bitterness at the death that simply begs you to take another sip.

Drinkable? This is one of the magic brews that simply disappears from the glass leaving only a lingering smile. Genius beer. Easily abused, and nowhere near the same experience when it is. Please buy from a reputable retailer.

Serving type: bottle

12-08-2005 19:02:48 | More by Realale

Offa

California

4.85/5  rDev +20%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

This is a very nice schwarzbier, flavourful and highly drinkable.

Very deep red-brown, almost black but not, it has a medium, creamy tan head slowly shrinking to a thin, foamy top and leaving some lace.

The aroma is brown bread, whole wheat toast, burnt sugar, hints of coffee & fermented prune. Overall, it's very nice, pleasant and aromatic.

The taste is lightly sweet but mostly rather dry (sweeter than, say, Kostritzer), with firast sweet caramleised, fermented prunes and dark whole wheat toast then joined with rootbeer (anise, etc.), singed leaves, bark, and finishing dryish and slightly bitter. It's light in feel but silky smooth and not thin or watery.

Serving type: bottle

04-10-2009 18:30:06 | More by Offa

jokelahoma

Missouri

4.88/5  rDev +20.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

Pours a deep, deep brown (not black, in spite of the name). Decent, but not overwhelming eggshell colored head, which disappears fairly fast, leaving the faintest trace of lace along the edge of the glass. While the beer isn't black, it is crystal clear.

The first smell that hits me is the faint acrid odor of black malt. Some spicy hoppiness in the aroma as well, but more roasty malt than anything else. The smell matches what your eyes tell you it should smell like. Some toffee, some coffee, a little bittersweet chocolate, perhaps even a trace amount of licorice are hiding in the aroma as well, but it always comes back to that dark grain smell.

Taste is markedly bitter, right up front. I honestly can't tell if I'm tasting hop bitterness, or the sharper bitterness of the dark malts. Either way, this one is assertively, yet cleanly bitter. Coffee that was in the aroma comes up front in the taste, but it's a very clean coffee, not oily or burnt at all. Close on its heels it the chocolate taste. Not a Hershey bar, sickly sweet chocolate, mind you. More a baker's chocolate, dry and unapologetic. The toffee is here as well, but without butter, as I don't detect even the slightest trace of diacetyl in this beer at all. None of those flavors hang around a long time, as they fade into a very pronounced, yet pleasant hop bitterness which lingers into the aftertaste. The coffee flavor remains in the aftertaste as well, reminiscent of having had a good cup maybe 10 minutes ago -- barely perceptible, but still there. Remarkably balanced, with none of the trace flavors, nor the hops ever gaining dominance over any others. And almost unbelievably clean tasting. Nothing jumps out at you with a "what the hell was that?" assault on the taste buds, yet there's more than enough character here so you're not wondering if you actually drank anything. This may be the easiest drinking beer I've ever had.

Mouthfeel is pure German lager -- light without being watery, carbonated without being prickly, lasting without being oily. Very, very good.
I never thought I could give a "5" for mouthfeel. After all, what is the "perfect" mouthfeel? This one deserves it, though.

An eminently drinkable beer. This is by no means a "one and done" brew, but one a person could savor all night. There's plenty here to keep your interest well into the evening, yet nothing that stands out so as to begin to wear on the drinker. Truly outstanding.

Serving type: bottle

06-08-2005 02:10:34 | More by jokelahoma

DrewHodges

Minnesota

4.88/5  rDev +20.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

4/9 tasting. .5L swing-top poured into tall glass beer krug

A-pours dark brown, nearly black, but not inky, more watery color, huge brown foamy head, sticky and light, with fantastic lacing all the way down

S-bursting with roast coffee malt, smoky meat, brown sugar and toffee

T-incredible flavor, a balanced maltiness and some dank hop bitterness, a little tangy, molasses

M-light carbonation for a lager, but above avg mouthfeel

D-extremely drinkable all-nighter, would pair well with any meat

One of my Top 10 all-time favorite beers

Serving type: bottle

04-18-2010 22:47:37 | More by DrewHodges

putnam

Michigan

4.97/5  rDev +23%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

I happened to notice the average score for this beer and I can't begin to comprehend it. This is a gem.

Brown with garnet/orange highlights, the aromas suggest open-tank molasses, sour black dough, toasted walnuts and charred, blackened bananas.
The texture is pure, creamy and mouth-coating with tangy fruits of raspberries, sap and dried puddles of Kahlua. Pregnant with flavor, it is ultimately a clean, pretty lager that happens to be dark and intensely, naturally flavored. There is a sensible, Jane Austin-perfectness to the ready beauty of this beer.
I don't think I'll ever drink a better dark, dry lager.

Serving type: bottle

11-24-2004 04:17:35 | More by putnam

RushLimbmalt

Minnesota

5/5  rDev +23.8%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

I love darker Pilsners, but this thing is almost black. It has a nice head that is creamy and thick. The aroma of dark malts is well blended with a touch of hops. The taste is very sweet and sugary(it reminds me of Newcastle for some reason) and the roasted malty goodness is perfectly balanced with the hops. A perfect beer in my opinion. I could drink a lot of these! :)

Serving type: bottle

12-12-2004 04:42:06 | More by RushLimbmalt

marburg

Michigan

5/5  rDev +23.8%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

An upfront admission -- I would have liked this to be a bit darker. So why the perfect 5? Well, that's a fairly minor flaw for an otherwise flawless beer. This has vaulted into my "desert island" beer list, a brew which I hope to never be without.

Sugary chocolate-vanilla and whiffs of nutty, dry bread mingle with a mild herbal hoppiness for an open invitation to take the first sip. Surprisingly milky in texture, the body remains light. Woody, chocolate malts provide a very robust, sweet malt flavor that's bordering, at times, on having the essence of dried cherries in the background and that's balanced *perfectly* by just the right amount of hops. For all its interesting malt flavors, this remains a refreshing beverage with a clean finish. Absolutely one of the most drinkable beers on the planet.

Serving type: bottle

04-22-2005 02:11:06 | More by marburg