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Wait - this isn't a Schwarzbier, it's a Schwarzbär. What's the difference? No idea. The difference in spelling made me wonder, briefly, while I was at the beer store as to whether or not this might be a beer from Austria or Bavaria or something, but it's Germany. I mean, as if the funky cartoon bear didn't make that pretty clear.
It's a black lager, so guess what color it is. If you said dark cherry coke, you're right. These always fascinate me as their color immediately makes me think of a porter, especially with the head they usually produce, but the taste just doesn't follow. The head on this one comes out pretty well, and there's even a chance that the light brown bubbles will leave a bit of lacing. The aroma is dark fruits and grains. This smells more like a Belgian ale than a dark lager, at the moment.
First sip is toasted nuts, plums, and maybe the burnt remains of a cinnamon stick. It's not terrible, but it's going to take some getting used to. There is kind of a metallic taste that is in here, and I don't know where it might be coming from - it's not like this shipped in a 1980's can. So, it is not forgettable, not bland, not too boisterous, and not really a challenge. I think the enigma here is getting to the heart of what makes this a black lager - the lager-ness of it.
Tip-in is metallic whine over dark chocolate, earth, dark fruit, and toffee. The middle comes in with a clarifying vision of earth, grains, toasted nuts, and brown sugar, but there's a bitterness hanging in the air. The finish is a metallic splash of toffee and caramel on the tongue before a bitter grain grabs hold for the trail-off.
Bottom Line: The world's oldest private brewery has been overtaken. The result is that their beer is just kind of average.
2.5/5
