Bottle from Bert’s Clear dark brown color with ruby highlights and a smallish off white head that dissipates quickly. Caramel malt with a hint of chocolate and crusty bread makes up the majority of the aroma. The flavor is what I expected from the aroma. Toasted bread and light caramel and chocolate. Medium body with a moderate level of carbonation and a slick smooth mouthfeel. Decent beer but less chocolate creamy mouthfeel than I usually expect from the style.

12oz bottle pours with a clear amber body that supports a semi weak tan head of mostly medium size bubbles. The aroma offers up roasted malts and a light mix of toffee and nuttiness with thin ribbons of burnt malts around the edges. The taste has a nice dark roasted malt kick that includes dark roasted coffee and a mild burnt malt note. Beneath the moderate roastiness are sweet malts and a bit of sweet caramel and chocolate malts. Decent for the style.

Bottle from Total Wine in Folsom, CA. Pours dark ruddy brown with a slight beige/tan head. Light chocolate aroma. Near medium - likely cause of the fizzy carbonation. Flavor is very chocolate - tho I think there was some coffee on the way to chocolate. Finishes with a nice, not really sweet, dark malt which is a little bit earthy. Might argue it needs more body, flavor and alcohol, but then it might not fit the style. Brings English dark mild to mind. Tasty drink.

It pours a dark brown with a 1 finger head of tan foam. It looks to have some lacing.

It has some raosty smells to it with a lot of grain...corn...that’s about it.

The corn/grain dominates with a light flavour of roasted malt and hint of coffee. Now a bit of a tartness is showing itself.

Decent mouthfeel here but it is not a very drinkable Black Lager because it doesn’t create any excitement for my palate.

12 ounce bottle from Beer Run. Pours a clear dark red-brown color with a large foamy tan head. Good head retention. Aroma of dark raisin notes, mild roast and chocolate. The taste is nutty notes, chocolate, mild raisin, mild roast. Thin bodied, high carbonation, slightly off balance.

Bottle @ home, picked up at Supermarket Liquor Fort Collins and shared with LeninCat. Pours a burnt orange brown appearance with a spidery light brown head. Very roasty, slight smoky, burnt cereal, light coffee aroma. Cola, burnt chocolate, herbal/leaf, light toffee, somewhat bitter flavor. Too burnt and caramelized for my taste.

12oz bottle poured into the fancy Sam Adams glass. Ruby brown color, filter clear. Aroma is a bit overly layered with a metallic quality, some toffee but some very clean woodsy malts. So, a mixed bag of smells. Flavor starts much nicer well lager but sweet (not sugar) caramel malts - very nice. Middle has that earthy quality and finish is light with a faint metal. Overall nice, flavor good, aroma needs some work. More like a dunkel than Schwarz.

This beer suddenly showed up at every single liquor store in town - client brewer? - redhook? - suddenly ubiquitous product - smells of faux-craft to me, but I’ll give any black lager a try - pours dark ruby - moderate lace - looks a bit like cola - smells of chocolate, burnt popcorn, ash, maple syrup, light acidity/bitterness, light berry-ish notes, caramelized sugars - medium body, moderate to high carbonation - flavor is fairly sweet, but with a late acidity that tries to balance (with mixed results) - quite sweet chocolate and caramelized sugars - char, burnt malt, medium bitterness - some burnt popcorn kernels - kind of overly sweet and overly acidic/roasty/bitter all at once, but some redeeming qualities.