McNeills Humperdink

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: Schwarzbier
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

Jet black pour with small tan head. Sour cherry taste with almost burnt malt back. A nice schwarzbier though.

Black colour with tan head. Earthy hop aroma. Very bitter hop flavour with a bit of malty German sweetness in their somewhere. I would prefer it to be a bit sweeter, but it is still pretty good.

Bottle: Smoke, moldy/yeasty - wet cardboard nose. Reddish brown/black color. Clear with small head that disappeared quickly. Coffee, smokey malt. A little pine and grapefruit mix. Thin, in a good way. Very drinkable. Medium roasty/burnt lingering. Tasty beer that is probably out of character. Lost a little flavor as it warmed up.

UPDATED: JAN 23, 2004 Black and nearly opaque with THICK tan head. Slight coffee in full malty nose, hinted with chestnut overtones. Huge roasty mouthfeel once again with chestnut overtones. The god of all Schwarzbiers.

Pours a rich murky very dark brown with a thin short-lived tan head. Aroma of burnt black malts and some sourness. Flavor is semi-sweet with a hint of bready caramel maltiness, but this is mostly overcome by an underlying acidity and bitter finish. I don't think this is a bad bottle, because it just arrived at the store where I bought it. Not very true to style, although it goes down easy and has some positive attributes.

this beer is consumed by the gods in valhalla.

I get berries and licorice and smokiness in the flavor of this medium-bodied beauty. I get a coca-cola appearance and a foamy head, and a slightly hoppy, bitter palate that lingers and lingers (but in a nice way). Don’t know how close this is to the ’typical’ schwartzbier, but it’s another quality addition to a line of beers that I predict (or at least hope) will soon be challenging the Rogues of the world.