Schwarzbier
Schwarzbier: Germany's black lager from Thuringia and Saxony, dark and smoothly roasty but light and dry, like Köstritzer. Strength, bitterness, glass and classic examples.
Schwarzbier means black beer, though it is rarely quite black: medium to very dark brown, with ruby or garnet glints, very clear, under a large tan head. It tastes of soft malt with a light roast like bitter chocolate, never burnt, and a moderate hop bitterness, and finishes dry. The body is light for the colour, which makes it easy to drink.
Where it comes from
It is a regional speciality of Thuringia, Saxony and Franconia, and its popularity grew after German reunification in 1990; it also inspired the black lagers brewed in Japan. Köstritzer, first recorded in 1543, launched its Schwarzbier across Germany in 1993 after the Bitburger group bought it, and it is the best-known example.
Brewers use Munich and Pilsner malts for the base and huskless dark roasted malts, which add roast without burnt flavours, with German hops and a clean lager yeast.
How to serve it
Pour it at 7–10 °C into a flute. It goes with mushroom strudel, a Munster cheese or a fruit tart.
Next to its neighbours
Next to a Munich Dunkel, a Schwarzbier is usually darker, drier and lighter, with a roast edge. It is drier and less malty than a Czech dark lager, and should never taste like a porter.
Schwarzbier in numbers
- Classic examples
- Köstritzer, Kulmbacher Brauerei
- Original gravity
- 1.046–1.052
- Final gravity
- 1.010–1.016
- Name means
- black beer
- Food
- Mushroom strudel; Munster cheese; fruit tart
- Classic examples
- Köstritzer Schwarzbier; Kulmbacher Mönchshof Schwarzbier; Nuezeller Original Badebier; Devils Backbone Schwartz Bier; pFriem Schwarzbier
- BJCP style
- 8B Schwarzbier
Sources
Checked .
- 8B. Schwarzbier, 2021 Beer Style Guidelines — Beer Judge Certification Program
- German-Style Schwarzbier — CraftBeer.com, Brewers Association
