Heart Of Darkness: Engkanto: Witch Dance Ume & Osmanthus Black Lager (Vietnam: Black Lager: 5.7% ABV)
Visual: Very dark red when held to the light, black otherwise. Thin browned head.
Nose: Roasted malt nuttiness. Moderate bitterness. Dry roasted peanuts. Soft kiwi.
Body: Chocolate fondue to chocolate liqueur but less boozy. Bitter cocoa behind. Light prickly hop feel. Light figs.
Finish: bourbon biscuits. Light nut oils. Slight liquorice. Chocolate cake. Some hop bitterness. Light sour cream. Raisins.
Conclusion: This is a very chocolate led black lager, yet manages to be competitively easy drinking despite that. An initially roasted bitterness on the aroma made be think this was going to be more of a bitter, hoppy beer than it actually turned out to be.
The body is instead a mix of chocolate flavours, with smoother liqueur like notes, sans the boozyness, though by far not as heavy as you would get in a stout, just sweet flavours over a more bitter cocoa base.
In the finish it stays more towards the bitter, with a savoury cream touch. I have to respect how cleanly made and well balanced this is. It means that the mass of chocolate flavor doesn’t become heavy and this stays fairly easy to drink, just a bit heavier than standard lagers.
Late on some dark fruits start showing themselves, which surprised me and added a touch of complexity that rewards you for paying attention as you near the end of the beer. That little extra touch took this from a solid black lager to an actively good one – very enjoyable and gives a mass of flavor matched to heat suitable drinkability.
Background: Another one tried courtesy of Renegade Bar in Chiang Mai, but not a Thai beer, instead a Vietnam brewery doing a collaboration with a Philippine brewery, which sounded worth trying to try some breweries I would not otherwise encounter, especially as it was a black lager, a style had not seen over in Thailand much. Googling tell me ume is a plum blossom, which makes sense as I mainly know Ume from Umeshuu, Japanese plum wine – though it being the blossom makes sense as I got no direct plum notes in the drink -and osmanthus, a flower used in tea which I had not heard of before, so two interesting ingredients used.
