Barley Creek Angler Black Lager

Brewed by Barley Creek Brewing Co.
Style: Schwarzbier
Tannersville, Pennsylvania USA

From bottle. Roasty aroma to this with lots of chocolate malt, coffee, and roasted barley. Rich nose, very fragrant and pleasant. Dark brown-black clear with thin off-white head. Medium watery body with heavy carbonation. Starts sweet with roasted barley, chocolate and light coffee. Nutty and sweet with dry tangy finish and light chalky after. A little acidity from some over carbonation, but a nice schwarzbier.

Sampled on draught at the brewery in Tannersville. A normal shwarz with nothing too distinguishing other then a metallic nose that I didn’t particularly enjoy. Dark black colour, thin beige head. Taste has some licorice, and spinach. Wierd.

Pourk brown with a white head. Smells of chocolate, some fruity hints. Tastes of roasted malt, some fruity hints, dry and crisp.

12oz. Bottle: Aroma of malts, chocolate, cocoa, hops, chocolate milk, and slight caramel. Poured brown/very deep amber in color with a medium-sized, creamy, rocky, tan head that diminished but lasted throughout. Clear. Slightly sparkling. Good to very good lacing. Flavor is lightly sweet and lightly bitter. Tastes of malts, chocolate, slight tar, light roasting, slight wood, slight caramel, cocoa, slight hops, and slight brown sugar. Medium body. Lightly dry, lightly chalky texture. Average carbonation. Malt, chocolate, and roast finish is slightly chalky and lightly dry.

Tap at the brewpub. Aroma of dark fruits, sweet malt, and a putrid, practically fecal feel to it. At first it seemed clearly infected, but later I noticed a similar note (much lighter) in many of their beers, so perhaps it’s an odd house character that got out of hand in this one. In any case, the flavor more mildly exhibits this odd character but also has some nice chewy, bready malt with nuts and hop bitterness. Body is fine, though the putridness lingers a bit. Kinda messed up stuff, in the end I somehow found it passable, though I completely understand the lower ratings for this one.

On tap at the brewpub. Pours brown with a ring of white head. Aroma of sweet roasted malt. Flavor is sweet with lots of malt and an almost sour finish (infected?). Drinkable but quite dull. 6/4/5/3/11 (2.9/5)

On tap at the brewpub...cola brown with a faint tan head. Aroma of coffee, chocolate, dark fruits..Flavor was too sweet, with not enough hop backbone...very unbalanced. The palate was medium bodies and sweet, sweet, sweet...Not my favorite Schwarz.

Complete drain pour! Really ugly beer. Dark amber-brown with virtually no head. Smells like vomited red wine. It tastes like it was aged in sweaty sneakers. Also extremely watery. How does a professional brewer make this beer and believe it’s good enough for public consumption?