Shonan Beer Schwarz

Brewed by Kumazawa Brewing (Shonan Beer)
Style: Schwarzbier
Chigasaki, Japan

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

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My Bottom Line:
Loads of actual honey dominate this dark brew’s wooden, leafy hops, a sweetness which is exacerbated by the very low carbonation.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam circles the dark brown.
-This is far from a German Schwarzbier...
-The hop character barely tickles the finish.
-Sweetness + low carbonation = low drinkability. Which is a problem for this type of lager, obviously.

On tap at Swan Lake Pub Edo.

Bottle at our Ryoukan in Hakone. Result! Dark brown coloured. Taste is rich, chocolate, brown sauce, intense fruitiness. Parma violets too. Aroma slightly floral, beefy, fruity, some sweetness. Nice.

Aroma: licorice, dark chocolate Palate: soft and smooth Flavor: some black licorice but predominantly rounded (non-bitter) medium dark chocolate

Bottle from Shonan Brewery/Pizza Trattoria. Clear dark brown, off white head. Nose is sweet roasted malt, grain husk, bit of Marmite yeastiness. Taste is sweet lactic milkiness, roasted malt, cereal grain husk, touch of saltiness. Really good Schwartz bier.

Bottle (gift from Neko-chan). Dark roastiness, yeast. Dark brown color, with a full one-and-a-half inch rocky head. Very mild flavors, some slightly sweet chocolate, which diminish very quickly. Thin and watery. Not a lot to say about this one. Flavors are weak and disappear within a second or two. Goodbye....

Translucent black with a tall, off-white head. Malty, roasty aroma. A bit of coffee and dark chocolate. Has some cereal depth. Ok but not overwhelming. Dry, mild flavor. Subtle tastes of chocolate and nutty grains. Creamy and pleasant. Basically a bit thin, with a bit too much carbonation. Decent and well-balanced but not very exciting.

Pours a dark brown with a large tan head. Aroma is yeast, grass, and light roasted malts. Sorta thin, yet creamy body. Flavor is roasted coffee, caramel, and chocolate malts. Finish has some bittersweet chocolate in it. Not bad, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Dark brown color, sweet caramel, nutty nose. Light chocolate nutty mouth, sweet maltiness. Sweet malty finish. Too sweet to really enjoy.

Dark brown with Ruby hues. A foamy beige head. Sweet with a light coffee scent. Light sweet malty front with coffee biterness in the middle and follow. A touch of candi sugar in the aftertaste. Not a bad beer but is it a dark lager or a Schwarzbeir?

Tap @ brewery. Yeah, so me and TimE walk into this joint, and he’s about to read the names of the beers to me. But I tell him to hold on because they’re in Katakana, and I’m still practicing, unlike him who has been here long enough to spread his seed across half the freaking country. This one was just two letters: "Ri-bu". Then we saw that it was written in Romaji nearby, and "Liebe" didn’t help a lot either. We never figured out exactly what this was, but "dark lager" seems to be the most accurate. Opaque-black, small head. Nice roasty dark malts, plum and Dr. Pepper in the flavor. Way too sweet in the finish; not very well-balanced.