Sagres Preta

Bottle. Pours brown with a beige head. Malty aroma with baked bread crust, coffee and a touch of cocoa powder. Smooth dark malty flavor, almost some burnt notes in there, with coffee and cocoa powder. A bit thin in the mouth. Not the best Schwarz I’ve had, but quite good.

Bottle claims only 4.1% Medium, dense & slightly irregular beige head over deep dark, red-brown beer. Very sweet, syrupy nose with roasted & toffee notes - like Haagse Hopjes , roasted grains and scorching waffle syrup. Very slow upcoming coffee taste, or even Ersatzcoffee, but practically devoid of any bitterness. Roasted sugar, cardboard. Very light, near empty palate, bit fizzy, dry. If I had gotten this blind, without any foreknowledge, I might have hazarded a third world, home-manufactured Cola alternative...

Bottle from Tres Bon Cuisine. Pours a dark brown-red color with a medium white head and some lacing. The aroma is toasted malts and some chocolates. A sweet flavor of nutty toasted malts, some coffee and earthy caramel flavors too. Easygoing and quaffable.

330ml Bottle - Brown with red tinges and a tan head. Malty aroma with raisins and dried fruit. Malty and slightly roasted taste with some dried fruit elements.

Deep ruby appearing black with a collapsing tan head. Fine vegetal coal dusted aroma with distant burnt toast and nuts, milky coffee- a ringer for CE Gravediggers. Sweet but dusty with cocoa, thinly spread Marmite on overdone (not burnt) toast, roasted hazelnut, cream, little ashy linger. Some milky mocha, bin bag of leaves, background sprucey hop in the mixer. Creamy at 4.1. Slight gnaw of cardboard (burnt of course). Good enough to bring a sixpack home, even with a 15kg weight limit. Best beer in Portugal?

Bottle. High creamy and long lasting light brown head. Pitch black body. Caramel nut coco aroma. Sweet sugary coffee flavor. Low carbonation. Short sweet aftertaste.

A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces three-fingers of lightly browned, tan colored foam. The beer is a dark, concentrated brown color (not quite black) that does have some burnt amber notes to it; when held up to the light the beer shows a brilliantly clear, deep, ruby / plum color. The aroma smells of toasted bread crust and perhaps a touch of dark chocolate up front, but then picks up a tinny, cheap lager like note towards the finish. Some caramel notes are here as well as just a touch of diacetyl that supplies a hint of butterscotch that also boosts the caramel aromas. I like the light roast influence in the nose, but the mix of diacetyl (that most will miss as I am a bit sensitive to it and it is subtle here) as well as the metallic finish just make this a touch off-putting to smell.

A fizzy carbonation couples with a dry’ish, but dark malt sweetened flavor up front. The beer finishes with a solid toasted grain note that is reminiscent of biscuits and crackers that have been well browned in the oven. A touch of berry-like fruitiness is here as is a faint coffee note that reminds me of a pale-roasted coffee. The malt provides a slightly earthy undertone that is mixed in with the toasted grain character; toasted whole grain character actually, as there is a touch of complexity to this note.

The beer isn’t all that bad in the flavor, it is well within the style of a schwarzbier, but the aroma is not quite as clean as it needs to be. Not bad, but I can’t see myself giving another one of these a go.

Purchased: Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

2009 Bottle - Pours out dk brown with a medium frothy lt tan head...aroma is dark malt, burnt grain and some light yeast...flavour is toasted grains, with some cocoa, finish is creamy...pretty nice actually