Guinness Black Lager

My brother-in-law brought over a bottle of Guinness Black Lager for me to try. The beer pours a black color with a frothy cream colored head that leaves a lacing on the glass as it subsides. The aroma consists of caramel, chocolate, wet cardboard, and toasted malts. The taste is very light with faint hints of chocolate, toasted malts, and caramel. A light sweetness takes over with some vanilla hints, and it finishes with a spice. The alcohol content 4.5% ABV. This beer was not that enjoyable, and I absolutely would rather have a Guinness Stout. The flavors fell very short and it was almost watered down.

Port Brewing Midnight Expression Lager

My buddy Matt brought over a bottle of Port Brewing Midnight Expression Lager to share with me. The beer pours a black color with a bubbly beige colored head. The aroma consists of toasted malts, caramel, a hint of chocolate, and has a nice smokiness to it. The taste is smooth and robust with a smoked flavor resonating throughout the beer.The finish has a dryness to it, but it sweetened with caramel. Overall the beer is easy drinking with a great toasted flavor. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. This was a well done lager with a great amount of smoked flavor, making it dry yet very tasty.

Full Sail Session Black Lager

I received a bottle of Full Sail Session Black Lager with my beer of the month club subscription from Beer on the Wall. The beer pours a dark brown color with a frothy off-white head. The aroma consists of sweet toasted malts with a sour hop accent. The taste is smooth and slightly sour with malts and a roasted malt flavor. The alcohol content is 5.4% ABV. I really enjoyed the toasted malt flavor associated with this beer, making a wonderful and very drinkable lager.

Samuel Adams Beer Pairing Dinner

I attended a Samuel Adams beer pairing dinner at Brew 22 in Harrisburg. This was my second beer pairing dinner, so I had a good idea what to expect and how the night would go.

The first beer served was Sam Adams Imperial White with Orange Juice (called a Sam-mossa). Immediately, I picked up an orange juice aroma with the beer and noticed that there were orange pieces floating in the beer. I thought it was a pretty good mix at first, but the orange juice sort of kills the finish. Note, I have had the Imperial White before, and I really enjoyed it. The beer was paired with egg benedict over crab cake and muffin. I thought it paired extremely well with the crab and citrus working together. The combo left a sweet taste on the side of the mouth.

The second beer served was Sam Adams Black Lager. The beer pours a dark brown with a light tan head. The taste consists of toasted malts and chocolate, which also matched the aroma. The beer was paired with pit beef. I thought the smoked BBQ really played well with the toasted malts and the sweet buttered break brought out the chocolate flavors even more.

The third course served Sam Adams Boston Lager and paired it with calamari. The beer has an amber color with a nice balance between the hops and malts. In the pairing with the Boston Lager, the bitey cocktail sauce mellowed with the hops. However, I thought that this course didn't pair without the cocktail sauce, but using the cocktail sauce provided an excellent pairing.

The fourth course poured Sam Adams Cherry Wheat with Pork Wellington. The beer has a reddish amber color with lots of cherry flavor and a light finish. In the pairing with the pork wellington, the cherry and pork worked will together, especially when I got to the cherries in the pork. The cherry in the beer provided a light accent to flavors in the pork and made this an enjoyable dish.

The final course pair Sam Adams Coastal Wheat with crème brulee. The beer pours a pale yellow and has a light wheat aroma. The light orange flavor played with the citrus in crème brulee well and made a very enjoyable dessert. The conversation at the table focused on how disappointing the crème brulee was on its own, however I thought the pairing covered up an shortcomings.

Saranac Black Lager

The fourth beer I opened out of the “12 Beers of Winter” sampler pack from Saranac was the Black Lager. The beer has a deep brown color with a creamy foamy head. The smell is heavy on sweet malts with hints of coffee. The taste is dry and slightly bitter at first, but the taste sweetens with hints of chocolate and a slight coffee undertone, which is what makes it dry. The alcohol content is 5.5% ABV. I really enjoyed this beer with the coffee and chocolate tastes and thought it was a very dynamic experience.