Have you tried it? What did you think?
I have not, but if it is in the spirit of “Schwarzbier” akin to Shiner Black Lager, I expect to love it!
Yes, I’ve tried it, and yes, I like it. I like Ugly Pug even better, though.
It’s awesome.
I like Guinness Draught but I can only drink a couple before I’m done. The black lager I could drink all night.
To me, it was $11 for a letdown. Seemed kind of bland and watered down.
I tried it, I liked it. It was a little milder than I was expecting, but I wouldn’t call it bland. I would buy it again (still have some in my fridge).
Interesting.
So if my taste runs to pretty much any beer by Sam Adams and Chimay, would I find Black Lager too light?
IMO, yes. I would select Sam Adams before Black Lager if presented with the choice.
I tried it last year when I first noticed it, and maybe it’s gotten better, but I just wasn’t impressed with it. Perhaps my expectations were too high.
Yes, enjoyed it.
Tried it in the bottle (I assume that’s what we’re talking about?) and didn’t like it much. Don’t plan to buy it again. I do like Guinness Stout, though.
I agree. It’s pretty piss poor for a black lager. Kind of tastes like Guinness mixed with club soda or something like that. I’d certainly take Sam Adams over it, but look for Sam Adams Black Lager, which is a very solid rendition of the schwarzbier style and fairly widely available.
That’s a pretty good assessment, IMO. The color led me to expect a fairly bold flavor, but it ended up tasting diluted and a lot like an American lager.
They gave out samples at a grocery store here (!), and, yes, I liked it a lot
I was pretty disappointed, if only because the “Guinness” name seems to just be marketing. It didn’t taste at all like Guinness to me, just a fairly uninspiring lager. Made me suspect they just squirted some dye into Harp, although I’m sure that’s not entirely true.
I’m rarely impressed with lager, though – I’m exactly as happy drinking Old Style as most imports or craft lagers.
It struck me more as having the same roasted barley as the stout, but without the unmalted barley and sour tang that the stout has, as well as any yeast flavors.
Without the body from the unmalted barley, and the tang/yeast flavors, Guinness Black Lager was a pretty tame rendition of a schwarzbier. Kostritzer and New Belgium’s 1554 are both way, way better versions, and 1554 tastes to me anyway, more like what I’d imagine a Guinness lager to taste like.
As far as I know, New Belgium’s 1554 is an ale. I’ve had it several times, and it tastes distinct (to me, at any rate), from a black lager.
The New Belgium site is pretty vague- they call it an ale, yet say that they use a lager yeast strain.
So by my reckoning, unless they do some sort of Steam beer type thing with lager yeasts at ale temps, it’s pretty much a lager, even if they call it an ale.
A cliche but appropriate “There is no there there.” I would not buy it again.
Interesting. Like I said, it doesn’t really taste like a black lager to me. If I’m remembering it correctly, it was a bit sweeter and yeastier than what I think of as a black lager. I think of a good black lager as having a roasted taste and clean finish like a regular lager, but I remember a lingering sweetness in 1554.
According to this homebrewing blog, it is fermented at ale temperature, but he cites New Belgium’s website, so I don’t know if it has changed or if that’s an assumption he made, based on the mention of the light lager yeast.
Actually, a better citation here:
ETA: Actually, the New Belgium website itself says:
I’m going to have to try it again, because I don’t remember it finishing dry–my recollection is a good bit of residual sweetness, which is why I only have this beer every once in awhile.