Beer Styles

What does Schwarzbier taste like, and why is it named that? It's a bottom-fermented beer of deep, dark color, in which roasted malt lends a light note of coffee, cocoa and bread crust. Held up to the light, it usually glows ruby-brown; true black is rare.

Thuringia and Saxony are considered the home of the style, with Köstritz as its best-known name. According to the BJCP competition guidelines, the original gravity—the sugar content of the wort before fermentation—falls between 11.4 and 12.9 degrees Plato, with an alcohol content of 4.4 to 5.4 percent by volume. The exact alcohol content of a given Schwarzbier is stated on the label.

The difference from Munich Dunkel lies in the roast. Munich Dunkel tastes bready and malt-sweet, without much roasted bitterness. Schwarzbier is drier and leaner, with its dark note coming more strongly from the husk of the roasted malt.

Stout, the Irish version for instance, is top-fermented and far darker. On the color scale it reaches beyond 79 EBC, while Schwarzbier tops out around 59. It also has a creamier, heavier body. Anyone looking for a dark beer without the heft should reach for Schwarzbier.

Rauchbier tastes of beechwood smoke, Altbier of caramel and fruit. Schwarzbier tastes of neither, but rather of coffee without acidity. Köstritzer Schwarzbier from Bad Köstritz shows the style as most people know it: dark, gentle and eminently drinkable. On another beer's label, though, Schwarzbier can mean something else entirely, since the name isn't protected.