After the two regular Zötler beers that have been evaluated last week, I finally got my hands on the third of their four craftbeers - The Black Knight. Alas, I could not get my hands on the fourth one quite yet.
This beer is dedicated to a regional tale about the knight of Rettenberg that returned from a crusade, on which he had been captivated for many years, just to witness the wedding of his wife and his best friend - whereupon he smited both to death in his renlentless rage.
After a while he did start regretting his actions and ever since wast doomed so that until the present day his soul wanders 'round the castle, hopeing for forgiveness...
I hope thou enjoyet thy beersaturday!
Technical stuff
- Top-fermented
- Hops: Perle, Polaris
- Malt: Pilsner, Münchner, dark wheat malt, roasted malt
- 45 IBU
- 18,5 °Plato
- 7,7 % Vol.
- Recommended drinking temperature: 9-11 °C
From all four crafty creations this candidate sticks out with a very sinister vibe and a style that feels like it came straight from an old SNES game. It's a brew that would perfectly fit the halloween beersaturday vibe, but I certainly won't wait that long.
The head is unfortunately a bit short-lived, but with a little bit of patience I managed to build a solid layer of mildly tanned, fine pored bubbles on top of the inpenetrable, slightly hazey, chocolate brown beer.
A smell of dark chocolate, coffee beans and a little bit of banana shake - which I didn't expect from this beer - hit the nose before I enjoyed the first sip.
Sometimes tastebuds are funny and so the Banana is the flavor that shows up first. It quickly gets dominated by a very strong dark chocolate which leaves the scene with a bold bitterness that sticks around for quite a while. Furthermore I can taste some licorice while the roast malts are leading the ensemble.
It's definitely not an easy beer. Just like a really dark chocolate it is quite demanding on the palate. But that's also what makes craftbeers stand out from regular beers, right?
The roasted porter flavors and the strong hop tang, combined with a hidden but strong alcoholic kick are not for everyone. Certainly a very demanding beer, just like Sir of Rettenbergs exhausting journey must have been. If you do want to have a shy at it, make sure not to get it too cold. The crusaders didn't enjoy their beer at the northpole, either.
Porters can be very difficult and this one is no exception. It offers quite some entertainment and is probably one of the most interesting Zötler beers so far, but on the flipside I'm convinced that at no point should you struggle with a beer, and I must say I had some tough moments with this one.
As the last beers were more of the mellow kind, I'm afraid of beeing a bit too harsh on this one, as my sensors are not quite recalibrated yet.
As for now a solid 3.75/5 with potential upwards should be a fair rating.
