Concurrent with a press release that arrived this week, a bottle of Never Too Loud from Double Mountain Brewery arrived at the doorstep yesterday. This first new beer of the new year is a German-style Schwarzbier that should make for some winter session drinking.

Details:

The Schwarzbier is one of the oldest German styles of Lager. It’s dark in color, but light and crisp on the tongue. For Never Too Loud, we used a yeast strain of German and Australian decent, fermenting it low, slow, and clean, accentuating the malt and yeast profiles. We experimented with a new malt: Black Prinz and Midnight Wheat from Briess. It sheds the husk, giving us color without the astringency, and lending some lovely head retention.

The hops play second fiddle, balancing and adding subtle nuances to complement the yeast and malts. It’s low in ABV (per style) and drinks light for a darker beer. Hold it up to the light. It’s fecking gorgeous. The darkness gives way to a rich ruby hue. There’s some toffee and baked bread, a Midas touch of dry baker’s chocolate, and an easy, crispy boi finish. A dark beer that drinks like a lager. Beertender, I think I’ll have another.

Never Too Loud Schwarzbier

4.6% ABV 25 BU

Well, we followed the rules until the knob broke. This dark German lager carries aromas of espresso bean and rustic bread that riff hard over a clean biscuit and baker’s chocolate chord progression. This one looks like a porter and drinks like a lager. In the immortal words of Danko Jones, it’s never too loud!

It’s one I’ll be drinking and reviewing soon—stay tuned.