Pivovar Herold Black Lager

This is one of the beers I received in my first Beer of the Month shipment.   It’s from a brewery called Pivovar Herold from the Czech Republic.    They have been around since 1506 so they must be doing something right.  Actually, to survive that long, they must be doing a lot of things right.

The beer is a black lager which is also known as a Schwarzbier.  In German, Schwarzbier simply means black beer.

The beer pours a very dark color, it’s mostly black with a rich and dark mahogany color coming through on the edges.  There wasn’t a lot of head and the head that was there dissipated quickly with very little lacing.

It has a sweet, roasted malt aroma.  It’s a pretty pleasant aroma with hints of chocolate.   The taste of the beer matches the aroma, it is really nice, very smooth with a medium mouthfeel.  The flavors that come through for me are the roasted malts and chocolate.  There is something else that I am tasting as well but I just can’t put my finger on what it is.  Dry fruit maybe?  I don’t know but whatever it is, I like it.

Overall, it was a really good beer, it’s the first black lager I have ever tried and I intend on seeking out more.  As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, this was one of the beers that came in my first Beer of the Month shipment.  If you would like to get the same beers that I do and follow along with me each month, you can join the club by going to Microbrew Beer of the Month Club.

First Shipment from Beer of the Month Club

A few weeks back I wrote a post about the Microbrew Beer of the Month club that I had joined.  I have been waiting patiently (or at least I have been trying to wait patiently) for my first shipment to arrive and it came today.  I had it shipped to my work since it required an adult signature and was pleasantly surprised to see that the packaging was very discreet.  It showed no signs of what might be inside.  For me, it’s not a problem either way, I am an owner of the business, but it’s still nice to see that they got the little things right with this beer of the month club.

For my first 3 months, I signed up to receive all domestic microbrews.  However, they must have run out of two of the selections as I got two domestic beers and two beers from the Czech Republic.  They did include a note letting me know that they had to make these substitutions.   I am not complaining, they have a club that sends 2 domestic beers and 2 International beers and it’s more expensive than the one I signed up for so I was glad that if they couldn’t fill my order, they upgraded me.

The shipment came with a newsletter that gives you background on the breweries as well as the beers that were chosen.  The newsletter was well written but I found the formatting to be a bit confusing.

I am going to do a review of all 4 beers that I received but until that time, here is what I got:

• Diamond Beer Brewing Company – Presidential IPA
• Florida Beer Company – Hurricane Reef Pale Ale
• Pivovar Herold – Bohemian Granat Lager
• Pivovar Herold – Bohemian Black Lager

I will update this post with links to each review as I do them.  you can follow along with me if you like and join the same Beer of the Month club that I belong to by going to the Gourmet Beer of the Month Club.