Exploring black beer and dark lagers

  • Breaking
  • 18/11/2010

By Benjamin Quigan

It never fails to surprise me how many people turn their nose up to the suggestion of a black beer.

On many occasions at the bar I have ordered something dark and watched as a look of horror washes over the faces of my friends.

The interesting thing is that many of them have not actually tried a black beer; they are just put off by the look of it and think they wouldn’t like the taste.

Not all black beers are heavy stouts like Guinness. In fact, many black beers are no stouts or porters, but lagers.

Yes, lager can be black too.

There are many out there to choose from; some smaller craft breweries make some great dark beers.

But for the purpose of this article I’ll stick with two of the most easily accessible:

  • Black Mac
  • Monteiths Black

Black Mac

Mac’s breweries’ Black Mac is 5 percent alcohol – most dark lagers will be at a higher alcohol percentage.

It is smooth, dark and rich, with hints of caramel and chocolate.

There is none of the heavy thickness that is common with other stouts – this goes down very easily.

Most people would be surprised to hear that Black Mac is, in fact, a lager.

Monteiths Black

Fresh off winning a trophy for European Lagers at BrewNZ this year, Monteiths Black is good competition to its Mac’s counterpart.

The pair are traditional rivals and in my opinion, often Monteiths beers don’t quite match up to Mac’s.

In this particular case, however, it is on par.

The Monteiths is a tad crisper than the Mac’s, there is a predominant coffee flavour and aroma balanced with chocolate and toffee notes.

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If you haven’t yet tried a black beer I recommend one of these two as a starting point.

Don’t be afraid to step a little bit out of your comfort zone - you may find you like it.

source: newshub archive