Bottle from Oak Tree. Would love to be doing this in the Old Ale House! Pours black with a foamy tan head. Light dark malt aroma, perhaps with a hint of chocolate. Med body/frizzy carb. Flavor is sweet dark malt, maybe a hint of chocolate, and there’s enough bitter to keep it bearable. Ok. But not the world’s best schwarzbier. My past impression is that this brewery isn’t overly generous with ingredients. Note: The bottle says Latrobe, but that brewery isn’t overly generous either.

Draft. Black body with some ruby highlights. Beige head, mostly diminishing. The aroma is ashy with notes of dark roast, caramel and a hint of tar. The flavor is lightly to moderately sweet and lightly bitter. It finishes lightly sweet and lightly to moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture and lively carbonation. The texture of this beer was smooth, but the ashiness and slightly burnt roast in the flavor was too harsh. They easily eclipsed any hop flavor.

Bottle at the Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival on 06/05/2010. Dark brown body with a medium creamy tan head. Sweet munich, dark malt and light molasses aroma. Molasses, munich and dark malt flavor. Medium body with moderate carbonation.

On tap at the River City Beer Festival at the Diamond on 05/22/2010. Mostly clear copper body with a medium creamy off-white had. Sweet earthy and light malt aroma. Sweet earthy flavor, light malt and slight metallic hints. Medium light body with moderate carbonation.

Pour is a black with a small tan head. Aroma is a nice roasted malt with some coffee in there. Flavor is a little weaker with the roast but still there to make things interesting. Good but not great.

Pour is a amber with a large white head. Aroma is sweet sugary malts and not much else. Flavor is more sweet malts with some butterscotch after the swallow. Nothing great but also can’t dog it to bad.

12 ounce bottle from Market Street Wine Shop Downtown Charlottesville, VA. Pours a dark ruby red color with a medium tan head. Decent head retention and lacing. Aroma of leathery roasted malts, green apple and a hint of smoke. The taste is chocolate, green apple, faintly roasted malts. Medium bodied. Decent.

Sampled on draft at the World Beer Festival Richmond, 6/12/10. Pours a clear amber color with a thin head. Decent head retention and lacing. Nutty, malty aroma with resiny hops. The taste is caramel and citrus hops. Medium boded. Fairly average.

bottle - Pours light amber-orange with a small white head. It has a light toasted malt aroma. The flavor is mainly light caramel malt. There’s some very mild hops in there. It’s okay overall but is rather bland.