Pour slowly heavily hopped maroon-hued dark lager so obtrusive carbonation doesn’t smother freeze-dried coffee palate, bitter cocoa flourish, and roasted barley depth. Oily phenol finish turns softly sweet when warmed. Brewery defunct: 2005.

Lighter than classified, German ‘black lager’ does have a dark complexion but its unrealized earthy grain presence goes cardboard in no time flat. Hidden behind carbolic hops and honeyed barley lies creamy mocha-chocolate thrift. Too weak to fight.

Oddball Bavarian-styled black (a.k.a. dark) wheat ale benefits from peculiar chocolate-covered banana opening and hop-roasted smoked malt buttress, but suffers a bit from harsh nutty astringency. Creamy milk chocolate-y center makes up ground, but leathery tobacco quilt smothers preferred vanilla sweetness and powdered cocoa souring.

Soothingly creamed barley-roasted Bavarian dark lager finds relaxing middle ground between musty molded breading and sugary brown chocolate spicing. Sharp hop bittering contrasts ancillary vanilla, cocoa and walnut illusions, mellowing syrupy caramel malt backdrop.

Dry roasted hop char, burnt barleymalt brusqueness, and walnut-hazelnut coarseness befit deep brown German-styled lager. Hefty raisin-pecan-fig penetration sweetens earthen tobacco core and cherry jubilee tinge before anise-laced port finish beckons.

Unfulfillingly bland mahogany-hued Schwarzbier turns sourly dark fruited, leaving tart cocoa powdered cola nuttiness, vapid caramelized chocolate stead and brief coffee-oiled scour in a mess. Ancillary molasses-marshmallow-vanilla sweetness and spicy Bavarian hop bittering lighten tertiary hazelnut-pecan resonation, fig-date dash, and wood smoked-charcoal snippet inundating dryly coarse mocha finish. Another indistinct black lager caught betwixt brown ale, porter and stout stylings.

Exceptional dry-bodied garnet-highlighted black lager never done in by metallic copper ale rail. Barley roasted cocoa-chocolate malting picks up bulky molasses-toffee sweetness to counter oncoming oily coffee residue. Best of class. Brewery defunct: 2010.

Introduced at 2003 Oregon Brewers fest, unfiltered cola-hazed Schwarzbier-styled German black beer opens with spruced hop nose, pine malt musk and nutty dark chocolate-coffee variance. Smoked wood bitterness stays on tongue forever. Firm finish adds brusque black licorice swirl and ashy residual to the mocha mix.

Coarse brown-hued tan-headed German-styled ‘black beer’ mutates from sourly dried fig-prune frontage to chocolate-coffee-influenced finish, as dark fruited midst and laid-back mocha remnant beckon. Roasted barley-hop undercurrent sweetens the deal.