Sunday, November 6, 2011

Sunday Night Suds - Sprecher Black Bavarian




This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Sprecher Black Bavarian.

As the weather gets colder, the beer served gets darker and darker. But merely because the beer is dark in color, it does not necessarily mean that it is a heavy brew. A beer can be dark because of its malts, but it does not mean that the beer has the heft of a Guinness or other quality stout.

With this introduction, I turn to Sprecher Black Bavarian, a very dark beer which still bills itself as a lager. The label of the brew (besides bearing a Wisconsin K) indicates that it is a Kulmbacher style lager, but this is not a style of beer that I am familiar with. I did a little googling and learned that Kulmbacher is a brewery in Germany (their website indicates that they are the secret capital of beer), but this really did not help me.

The experts at BA have labeled the Black Bavarian as a Schwarzbier, which they define as:

[S]imply German for black beer. It doesn't mean that it's necessarily heavy or light in body, although they tend to lean towards light. Unlike other dark beers, like porters or stouts, they are not overly bitter with burnt and roasted malt characteristics that the others tend to depend on. Instead, hops are used for a good portion of the bitterness. Very refreshing and soul lifting beers, they also make a great alternative for the Winter. Especially when you are looking for a lighter beer, but one with depth of colour and taste.
The Black Bavarian fit some of the definition provided by BA, as it was not overly bitter, but I did not detect hops in the brew. It went extremely well with the barbecue beef that Mrs KB served Friday night as the roasted malt and the beef meshed very well.

The Specher Black Bavarian is one of the more widely available versions of Sprecher which can be found in New York. I have seen it in DeCicco in Westchester and in a few Brooklyn beer stores as well.

Sprecher Black Bavarian is certified kosher by Wisconsin Kosher and there is a kosher symbol on the top label on the individual bottle. For the experts' take on the Sprecher Black Bavarian please click here http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/144/96.

As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).

If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click http://www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com/ to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!

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