Crooked Crab Brewery's Darth Malt

Not too long ago, on a backyard patio somewhere in the United States ...

It is a period of tumult for craft brewing. 

The once growing empire of craft brewing

now faces resistance in the market, and

divisions from within.

Those divisions gave rise to selzers
and non-alcoholic beers. Those offerings

threatened to further erode the core of 

the strength of the craft beer industry.

That strength can still be found in beers

that draw upon the historical beers that

helped to establish the empire in the first

instances, beers such as ...

The Darth Malt from Crooked Crab Brewery. This beer is brewed in the style of a Czech Dark Lager, which has a special place for me. It reminds me of the time I spent studying in Prague, where I got to try the style, which the Czechs would refer to as tmavé pivo (dark beer) or perhaps ĉerné pivo (black). 

The Czech dark lager is also one of the oldest lagers brewed in Europe, being brewed for hundreds of years. The best example of this beer is the tmavé pivo brewed by U Fleckŭ, which began brewing the style in 1499. The beer itself was inspired by the Munich dunkel, but the tmavé pivo is its own beer. Unlike the German dunkel, which uses three malts, brewers create the Czech dark lager using four or five (or even more) malts. The base malt is -- as one would expect -- a pilsner malt (about 50% of the malt). That base is expanded upon with light or dark Munich malt, along with a smaller amount of caramel malt and an even smaller amount of roasted dark malt. As the beer is being brewed, the brewers have one goal in mind: to make the dark lager as drinkable as the more commonly known pale lager. Different hues, same experience.

The brewers at Crooked Crab produced a good version of a Czech dark lager that I have had on this side of the Atlantic. The beer pours the perfect deep, dark brown color, with a forthy head (which disappeared by the time I took the pictures).  The aromas were full of the malts used to produce the beer, which included Munich malt and, interestingly, chocolate malt. The latter probably to mimic what Czech brewers sought to achieve with caramel and dark roasted malts. The combination of malts gave rise to a beer that stands like any pale lager, but with some slight notes of nuts or toast. There was also a slight sweetness, which was done right. (As one Czech brewer described the taste of a perfect tmavé pivo, it should be just slightly sweet.)

I have to admit that I do not see this beer on shelves very often, but it is definitely worth the purchase. It would probably be even better from the tap. Something to look forward to. Until then ...

PEACE.