AVBC Brewer Select Series: Schwarzbier
May the Schwarz(bier) With You
Available now in the AVBC Tap Room
By Fal Allen
What’s the next new beer sensation? I’m always trying to guess what the next ‘it’ beer will be, and I’m always wrong; but, that doesn’t keep me from trying. A couple of years ago I was in my favorite beer city, Bamberg, Germany, to hook up with a tour group that the Association of Brewers had organized. I could hardly wait to get to one of the many small local breweries, settle back into a comfortable corner booth surrounded by oak, the warmth of the fireplace and the lingering aromas of the brew day. My mouth was watering as I thought of the smooth, silky, seductively dark Schwarzbier I would soon be tasting.
Schwarzbier: It’s the next big thing
After we had tipped back a few of these delicious black beers I found myself in a lively discussion with Jerome Chicvara about how surely this would be the next “Big Thing” in the states; how could it miss? We discussed it’s drinkability, its unique flavor attributes, its marketability and its clear superiority over other beer styles that might make inroads into the US microbrewing arena. We had it all figured out. Clearly Jerome and I were, well, let’s just say, ahead of our time. But, I’m determined to make our ambitious, and admittedly slightly alcohol induced, dream come true.
A Local Favorite
Schwarzbier is not widely known outside of Germany so I thought it would be a fun beer to explore. It combines the clean subtle crispness of a lager beer, with the combination of hop and dark malt bitterness, all rounded out with the smooth, but not sweet, flavors of malt. Schwarzbier could really be best described as a black Pilsner or maybe a dry Porter made with lager yeast. It’s the play between the hops and the dark malt that really makes this beer sing. The roasted dark malt gives the beer the rich flavor of espresso or French roast coffee and the hops have a clean, mild, bitterness. That combination, which can only be achieved by using a lager yeast, makes for an enigmatic beer experience. No other beer style offers this combination of layered flavors and we’re pleased to offer it for a very limited time at the Beer Park (and at some select publicans).
Ingredients
Not to be confused with a Dunkel bier, Schwarzbier has a lower starting gravity at 12 to 13 degrees Plato, with a higher percentage of dark malt and a slightly higher hopping rate of around 25-35 IBUs.
Malt
The best base malt for this beer is a Bavarian Pilsner malt, but any good light 2-row malt will do. Often Munich malt and/or Cara pils malt is used too and of course dark roasted barley or other black malts for color and that coffee flavor.
Hops
The hops most commonly used to brew this beer are low to medium alpha acid German varieties. For finishing hops some good choices are: Hersbrucker, Saaz, Hallertauer, Styrian, Spaltz, and Tettnanger.
Yeast
The choice of what yeast strain to use should be fairly simple. It must be a lager yeast and a German variety will be the best, but you could try other European strains. The only two real rules here are cold fermentation temperatures (around 13 C or 55 F) to keep ester production low and you need at least 30 days of cold lagering time. Often the longer you lager (up to 120 days) the smoother and more integrated the beer becomes.
Cheers,
Brewmaster Fal Allen
