Beer Style Guide: Get to Know Schwarzbier with Em Sauter
When summer comes around, I reach for a schwarzbier. Yes! It’s a refreshing style that is delicious and refreshing, in spite of its color. Lots of people think dark beers are just for the winter and sure, they have their place when the temperature drops but lighter bodied black beers exist from Irish stouts to black IPAs to schwarzbier. After all, a schwarzbier can also be called a “black pilsner.”
Schwarz is the German word for “black” and its color comes from a select debittered (carafa) roast malts. The beer is slightly roasty but schwarzbier isn’t going to have the same punch of roast coffee and chocolate like a porter or stout have. The debittered malts are just that, lacking in that bitter astringency. Think of it like painting—you add a tiny bit of dark color to the palette and suddenly the paint is much darker. This is the same way with using dark malts, a little goes a long way. To finish the schwarzbier recipe, use a medium dose of noble hops and a nice German lager yeast. The flavors of light cocoa, rich bread, and herbal hops are what you are looking for.
History of Schwarzbier
The history for schwarzbier is a little spotty but evidence suggests before the modern brewing traditions took hold in the late 19th century, black beers were being brewed for centuries. The town of Bad Köstritz (where Köstritzer schwarzbier is brewed and has been brewing dark beers since 1543) brewed a black beer that used ale yeast until the last 19th century. Beer writer Jeff Alworth even suggests that the Iron Curtain may have had a role in keeping the Köstritzer schwarzbier the way it was as East Germany was separated from the changes to lager brewing in the West.
Schwarzbiers originally are brewed in the regions of Thuringia, Saxony and Franconia in Germany. One of the best parts about Germany is the regionalism of beer styles- each region has their own unique beers; some can’t even be considered the style if brewed out of a certain region (ahem kölsch). Travel the German landscape and everywhere you turn, there’s a new beer style to explore that has its home and place in a town, city or area. The Bavarian beer landscape doesn’t look like the beer landscape of Berlin. This is changing with the popularization of craft beers but traditional breweries still stick to what they’ve been brewing for decades (and they are doing a great job at it).
Food Pairings
For food pairings, schwarzbier and a hamburger or a bratwurst is a winning combo, especially on a charcoal or propane grill. Those grill marks are flavor enhancements and a great complement to the flavors of the schwarzbier. Think about adding schwarzbiers to your summer BBQ cooler and you won’t be disappointed.
Beers to Try
The big German brand and easy to find in America. The beer comes in 500mL cans, which makes them perfect for bringing to parties or camping.
The “dark beer specialists” from North Carolina, Duck Rabbit make excellent dark beers (oooh their milk stout!!) so obviously their schwarzbier is a beer to seek out if you are down South.
Salt Lake City’s regional brewery Uinta makes a lovely black lager in a 12 oz. can that’s available in many spots around America. A good year-round option, Baba has clean drinkability and is just one of the many excellent options in Uinta’s wheelhouse.