ABOUT A PINT: Fall Into Spring with Bernard Premium Dark Lager

Laurie Piatkowski

As we enter the month of March, people have begun to come from their winter hibernation, and looking for the best beer to ease into spring. So, I set out to find the best beer for the month of March, and here is what I found.

---

---

Bernard Premium Dark Lager has both comforting roasty properties but also has a super clean, dry, refreshing finish. In Germany, this style of beer is known as Schwarzbier (quite literally "black beer"), and as I poured it into the glass, I noticed two solid inches of creamy head -- much like when you pour a Guinness.

This dark lager  has a nice coffee-ish nose with roasted caramel malt, faint bittersweet powdered cocoa, red wine touched dark muddled fruit, a subtle grainy sourness, and earthy, subdued, leafy hops -- all with a smooth clean finish. As I tasted it, I found hints of chocolate and licorice left behind, not unheard of within the dark beer classification. Also ,the carbonation is medium-strong; the many small bubbles are long-lived.
 
What ingredients go into a beer like this?

Well it’s made up of barley malt from the Bernard malt house, special malts; prepared Saaz hops, hop extract, and yeast. At a 5.10 ABV, it is a very drinkable beer found in most package stores year round -- it may take some digging,  but it’s worth the search.

Furthermore, for beer enthusiasts I definitely recommend cellaring this beer, but be careful not to forget that beer is different from wine -- after five to seven years it turns bad, and will have a nasty cardboard taste.

This beer has earned my seal of approval, and is my choice for Beer of the Month for March; it’s that just right kind of beer for Saint Patrick’s Day, or just for the sake of a great tasting beer after a long day at work.

---