Asahi Black (Kuronama)

Bottle, L’Orient, St Andrews. Dark black, big off-white head. Nose is roasted with some malty goodness, but quite watery and sweet. Mouth is burnt malt, some grainy and rice with some sweet malty caramel and espresso tones. Odd, and not my choice, quite dry, but alright.

Bottle from Waitrose. Fairly sweet with roasty flavours that mask most of the thin malt flavours which occasionally creep out. Seems to owe more to Guinness than to most schwarzbiers.

A Mes rate: Bottle at Maria’s Ton Up Tasting.
Dark mahogoany coloured with a good off white head that gives lovely dark brown bubbles on the swill. Heavy thick malty aroma with some wheat and caramel and some definite manure. Metallic malt flavour and lots of wheat. Metallic coffee finish and a little too much manure. The rice is very clear and obviously does it no favours.

Can, shared by Gr0ve. Pours a clear ruby body, with a huge, creamy beige head. Quite weak on the aroma, mostly roasted, with some butterscotch. Rather weak flavor too, roasted, with caramel and notes of butterscotch. Rather thin in the mouth, even for a schwarzbier, but not watery. A boring beer I think, but easy to drink. (080216)

334ml bottle with mes and ethereal. They said it smelt like full on manure on first opening. but since i was late, sorry, it breathed a bit, and by the time i got to it, it smelt more like good sherry rather than ’pigs bottoms’. Dark mahogany colour and a little head. Didn’t taste of much, maybe a bit of roasted barley and a few medicinal herbs in the finish. Very interesting for an asahi but that really doesn’t say much.

Bottle from Waitrose. Looks fantastically - very dark brown with a line of tan head. However, things go downhill from there. The aroma has dark malt but it’s obscured by a somewhat farmyard funk. The palate is rather watery and the flavour is bland sweet malt. Disappointing!

Translucent near-black color. Small, dense tanned head. Light sweet, but still quite fresh malt aroma. A scent of dusty/hayish hops. A more appearant malt-sweetness in the flavor. Sugary notes. Low on the hops. Thin-bodied and smooth with a short sweetish end. (Bottle shared by grOve, thanks!)

I was not a big fan of this brew. It poured a nice dark, dark ruby with tan head.....Aroma was very nice of nice dark roasted malts. Flavor was very nice up front, but what ruined it for me was the complete absence of bitterness.....like almost no bitterness.....if it had some, this would have been great for me......but it was like a tease.....left me hanging wanting more out of it......