Port Brewing Midnight Sessions

In case you haven't read my blog before, or in a while, let me just say: I love Port Brewing.  I love the names, the beer, the attitude, and I love that they started with a pizza and beer place.  In honor of opening this Midnight Sessions, which has been sitting in my fridge for quite a while, I've ordered a pizza from Dagwoods to go with; half Woody's, half Greek, should be delicious. 

For those that may not have read my posts about Black Lagers before, here's a little review.  The Black Lager is basicaly an American take on the German "Schwarzbier."  Schwarzbier sounds like something they might have drank in Spaceballs and while I won't rule that out, Shwarzbier literally just means "black beer."  It's a fairly simple description for what actually is a fairly complex lager.  A good Schwarzbier is going to be a dark brown, bordering on black, yet should still have a very light body; being a lager helps with that.  The goal is to drive out all the fruit flavors and have nothing other than roasted malt flavor and a bit of hops. 

The aromas have a distinct roasted malt flavor.  It's a deep smell with hints of salty sea air and a dry body.  The head lacks a tremendous amount of retention, but it's a good amount for the pour.  The color is extremely dark, bordering on black.  It's only when you hold it to the light that you can catch the subtle amber and brown tones.  The first part of your sip is a load of carbonation with a distinct taste of bitters.  As it opens up it becomes a concentrated blend of roasted grains and coffee, but is supported the whole way by that thin undercurrent of bitterness.  Oh hell yes, the pizza is here, looks amazing.  Here you go, you get to share the experience a bit. 

So back to the beer.  Hints of chocolate in the grains, a beautiful mix with the coffee, but a totally different experience than a coffee stout because of the light body.  As it finishes, the coffee and hops take over leaving a lovely rich bitterness on your tongue.  My only complaint on this beer is that its mouthfeel is so carbonated that it borders on soda like quality.  But otherwise it's a solid black lager.  The coffee addition is brilliant and mixes perfectly with the choice of hops and roasted grains.  Nicely done Port!

Midnight Sessions: ****1/2

Rogue Dirtoir Black Lager

Ahhh, back to the old standard, my first love: Rogue.  Technically, this beer is called First Growth Dirtoir Black Lager, but I thought I'd shorten it for the sake of the post.

I've recently been seeing a number of these Black Lagers popping up by some of my favorite brewers; Avery made an incredible one as their anniversary beer called Seventeen.  The Black Lager is a distinctly American take on the German styled Schwarzbier.  Schwarzbier pronounced "shvahrts-beer," sounds more Yiddish than German... which is simply German for black beer.  It doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily heavy or light in body, although they tend to lean towards light. This makes them quite different from their porter and stout cousins. The goal is to eliminate all fruit flavors and instead produce a very mild, almost bittersweet flavor with notes of chocolate, coffee, and vanilla: taking a few steps closer to the American Stout flavor, while still maintaining the light lager body.

The Rogue Dirtoir pretty much picks up right there in my description.  A black body with sizeable tan-coffee head and excellent lacing pours into my pseudo pilsner glass.  Very little front end on this beer, but it develops into a very nice roased malt bitterness mixed with a rich dark chocolate and finishes with a well balanced and not overpowering hop bite.  Overall, very tasty, although the clarity of the lager seems to expose the bitterness in the initial malts leaving for a slightly overpowering and lasting bitterness that carries through the sip.  This bittersweet, while probably intended, pretty much takes over the palate muting the other flavors under it.  Otherwise, this is immensely drinkable beer, and the notes from the chocolate malts do not go unnoticed.  I should add that Rogue labels this beer as a GYO or, Grow Your Own.  In fact, Rogue did exactly that: from the hops to the grains, they provided everything to make this beer.  It's another interesting step towards sustainability in the beer world.

First Growth Dirtoir Black Lager: ***