() is a
dark lager
Lager (; ) is a style of beer brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "''lager''" comes from the German word for ...
that originated in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It has an opaque, black colour with hints of chocolate or coffee flavours, and is generally around 5% ABV.
It is similar to
stout
Stout is a type of dark beer that is generally warm fermented, such as dry stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout and imperial stout. Stout is a type of ale.
The first known use of the word "stout" for beer is in a document dated 1677 in the E ...
in that it is made from roasted malt, which gives it its dark colour.
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Characteristics
Schwarzbiers are made using a cool fermentation method, which classes them as lager, though historically warm fermentation was used. The alcohol
Alcohol may refer to:
Common uses
* Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds
* Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life
** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages
** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...
content usually ranges from 4.4% to 5.4%. They get their dark colour from the use of particularly dark malt
Malt is any cereal grain that has been made to germinate by soaking in water and then stopped from germinating further by drying with hot air, a process known as "malting".
Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar, ...
s or roast malt extract in brewing. The malt, in turn, gets its colour during the roasting
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizat ...
procedure. Its flavour may vary between bitter and slightly sweet.
History
The roots of Schwarzbier lie in Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
and Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
. The oldest known black beer is '' Braunschweiger Mumme'', ("Brunswick Mum") brewed since the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
(the first documented mention is from 1390 in Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
. The earliest documented mention in Thuringia is of Köstritzer brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...
from 1543, a brewery which later started producing Schwarzbier and still produces it today. Present-day eastern Germany has many unique varieties of this style from regional breweries.
Examples
Modern Schwarzbiers include
Köstritzer, Sprecher Black Bavarian, Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams (, 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, Political philosophy, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts, a le ...
Black Lager, New Belgium 1554 Black Lager, Shiner Black, and Xingu Black.
Dark Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
lagers range from dark to black beers (Czech ''tmavé'' and ''černé'').
References
{{Authority control
German beer styles