Short's Black Licorice Lager
• A sagacious formula of inherent elements within a beautiful cold fermented darkness
• Beer Type: High Gravity American Dark Lager aged on anise seed, Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans and fresh chocolate mint leaves
Black Licorice Lager has flavors of chocolate and roasted malt that complement the additions of Madagascar vanilla bean, anise, and fresh chocolate mint. Vanilla aromas greet the nose and flavors of vanilla and anise are detected. When the beer warms a bit, the finish showcases the crisp, sweet chocolate mint flavors. This well balanced beer is a bronze medal winner at the 2010 World Beer Cup.
• Beer Type: High Gravity American Dark Lager aged on anise seed, Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans and fresh chocolate mint leaves
Black Licorice Lager has flavors of chocolate and roasted malt that complement the additions of Madagascar vanilla bean, anise, and fresh chocolate mint. Vanilla aromas greet the nose and flavors of vanilla and anise are detected. When the beer warms a bit, the finish showcases the crisp, sweet chocolate mint flavors. This well balanced beer is a bronze medal winner at the 2010 World Beer Cup.
3.5
163 reviews
Bellaire, United States
Community reviews
(12oz bottle courtesy of rayl101! Pours black with a nice fluffy khaki head. When held up to the light, you can see its actually dark brown with some ruby hue. Active carbonation, but the bubbles are very small. Wow! Aroma is very powerful. Anise, chocolate and mint are prominent . I’m having trouble detecting the vanilla initially. There is a mint chocolate chip ice cream (which happens to be my favorite) thing going on with the aroma. Taste is sweet with a nice mix of anise and chocolate mint again. There is some bitterness, but its mostly roasty rather than hoppy. Medium bodied with a slick texture. Finish is smooth and seems like it cleanses the palate as anise and chocolate mint tend to do. This is a pretty unique beer and one that I enjoyed. If you don’t like anise or chocolate mint, then you will have a tough time with this.
bottle consumed 8/4/10.
woody/walnut brown with a soft tan head.
aromas of mint... big time... fennel seed, anise, roast, peppery spice and nuts.
the flavor has a distinguishable vanilla nuttiness along with a surprising amount of menthol-y mint mixed with black licorice. really interesting. 8/4/8/3/17/4
Crushed at GABF ’10. Not usually a black licorice guy, but this is pretty awesome and intense. Licorice, mint, vanilla. Yup, it’s all there. Very original and well-done.
Appearance: schwarzbier-esque, with a nice creamy head. Aroma: anise, chocolate, mint, hint of vanilla and black bread. Taste: sharp and spicily bitter up front, with strong notes of mint and chocolate, with a little licorice underneath. Finish: biting, crisp, and a little dry, with notes of dark chocolate. Notes: One of the more interesting beers I’ve ever had, although I can’t say I loved it. Glad I tried it.
On tap at Birch and Barley.
At Short’s Brewing Monster Tap Takeover at Churchkey. Poured a dark brown color, tan head. Aroma was mostly mint, though some licorice shown through. The beer was, as my friends described, like mint chocolate chip ice cream. A very unique brew to be sure.
Bottle. Dark brown pour with a small tan head. Complex aroma as the black licorice and mint are dominant with anise and roasted malts in the background. Initial flavors of roasted malt and vanilla with a strong lingering taste of black licorice. Slight alcohol burn as it goes down. Light to medium in body with good carbonation and dry texture. Very different for a dark lager, gets an additional mark for uniqueness.
pours out an obvious black color, with a heavily spiced aroma - first impressions are black pepper, anise, and cool wintergreen mint. a smooth vanilla flavor and chocolate sweetness fill up most of the body, and the 8% is well-hidden behind the array of flavors. spicy and sweet finish, with a hint of booze at the end. an interesting experiment but it’s unlikely that i’ll have this one again.
Black thin looking pour. Alcohol aroma up front. Definitely get the black licorice but it is not to strong. Well balanced with roasted nuts and vanilla all with a nice malty backbone.
pours dark brown with allmost no head. Aroma is sweet liquorce and roasted malts. Taste is quite the same with light chocolate added and some spice.
Somehow the licorice should have been more of a factor here,got a little whiff in the aroma, but more of that sour mash from the barrels , not a fan of this formula,they should retry it with a little more licorice
Its Shorts. So at least it is excellent. Not much in the anise area, but some nice vanilla and good malt notes. Yum.
Reviewed from notes. On tap at The Union in Clarkston, MI.
Pours near black with a thin head and not much lacing. The nose is quite nice with a good dose of black licorice. After that, a tad bit of vanilla and light molasses. Taste is all black licorice. Slightly sweet. Tastes fairly authentic. Good feel with a nice sweetness and good carbonation. Nice feel. A fairly one dimensional brew, but quite good and spot on in nailing the flavor.
Serving type: on-tap
Reviewed on: 10-25-2010
Bottle. Poured black color with an average frothy light brown head that was mostly lasting with excellent lacing. Moderate to heavy complex chocolate and licorice aroma. Medium body with a sticky texture and flat carbonation. Medium to heavy dark licorice bitter flavor with a medium to heavy bitter finish of moderated to long duration. Complex interesting beer.
Another huge thanks to Sean for bringing this...Pours a dark brown with a super light tan head...Aroma is medium lots of stuff going on, black licorice dominates, get some of the mint on the back...Taste is lighter than the aroma, the black licorice does not prenent as much as you would think. Light feel for sure, lager totally shows.
Part of the 13 Shorts in one night tasting at the Mikes on 2/18/11. Thanks Mike. Light and sweet. Light sweet. Mid fruity. Light (wimpy) finish. Was expecting a lot more based upon the description.
12oz bottle from deyholla, thanks Derek! Pours a black body with a thin, brown, creamy head that dissipates slowly and leaves a nice lacing throughout. Aroma is big on the black licorice spice with a good amount of dark chocolate behind it. Some sweet jelly beans, a light roast, caramel, vanilla-mint, and a hint of lime. Flavor is similar. A good amount of roast, black licorice spice, lime with some sourness, vanilla-mint, bitter dark chocolates, and light caramel. Finishes with a hard roast, minty licorice spice, and a slightly tart lime that leaves a light bitterness and completely dries before a lengthy aftertaste. Medium-light, creamy body and soft, creamy, moderate carbonation. Definitely drinks way less than the listed 8% ABV. Overall, a really nice offering from these guys. I don’t know what it is about them, but they consistently have this slightly sour lime flavor in their beers which is somewhat annoying. However, I feel the licorice, roast, minty chocolate, vanilla, and exceptionally creamy body overpower the somewhat strange tart lime enough to make this quite pleasant. 8% ABV?! Damn, this drinks waaaay lighter.
Poured into a pint glass. I’ll preface with a notice that I’m not a big fan of black licorice. I basically hate it.
3.5 A: Black color. Two fingers of frothy light brown head with below average retention and no real lacing.
4.0 S: Not surprisingly smells a lot like black licorice. Also a fairly strong roasted component and graininess. Sweet molasses behind all that.
4.5 T: There’s black licorice in the taste, but it isn’t as strong as in the nose. In fact, I might have identified the taste as a mixture of roastiness mixed with caramel and molasses had I not known the name. In any case, lots of graininess and roastiness again. Hints of lactose. Not mindblowing, but definitely solid and tasty.
3.5 M: Lighter body, perhaps a bit too light. Otherwise, good moderate carbonation and very smooth.
4.5 D: Another tasty and innovative beer from Short’s. Usually you won’t find both of those words in the same sentence, but Short’s seems to do it like clockwork. I like this a lot as it is, but if it were a bit thicker, it could be great.
Serving type: bottle
Reviewed on: 09-04-2010 00:40:46
Bottle number 577 of 744 thanks to Styles. 2006 vintage. Pours black with beige head. Interesting nose of black licorice, star anise, vanilla bean and lager yeast. Taste is very smooth. Some chocolate, mint, black licorice and vanilla.
12oz Bottle thanks to Santa. I have been wanting to try this. I love Short’s crazy stuff. Pours out dark brown with red highlights topped with a small tab head. Aroma is of light black licorice, spice, and sweetness. Taste opens up after about an hour the licorice starts to show along with some pitfruit.
Bottle,
has a brown-black pour with light tan and tan colored head, there was a lot of effervescence flowing in the glass but the beer is dark, so, I could not see it until I held the glass up to a light, left some lacing on the glass, there was a thin layer of dark sediment in the bottle,
this beer had aromas of chocolate, earth, light roasted malt, and there is some fresh mint in the background,
there are flavors of chocolate, licorice, gentle roasted malt (dark malt flavors like a Schwarz beer), a little chocolate and vanilla sweetness,
the bitterness is less than medium, there is dry chocolate and licorice trailing after the finish,
flavor starts with some sweetness and ends pretty dry on the tongue,
medium mouth feel,
this is a tasty beer, I found the mint to be in the background on the nose but more present on the palate, the mint adds a nice freshness to the beer,
the mixture of licorice, chocolate, vanilla and mint go well together, the alcohol is hidden well.
Brown with ruby lowlights and a foamy slowly disappearing medium tan head and sheet lacing. Aroma of black licorice, vanilla, dark malts, grains and light chocolate. Taste of licorice, dark malts, mild chocolate and nut bark. Semi sour and plenty of licorice.
Dark brown or black color. Both aroma and taste were licorice and sourness. Medium head. So many different tastes that I couldn’t identify them all. Chocolate aroma and taste stand out.
Thanks to Exiled for sharing this bottle.
The beer pours a dark brown to black color with a tan head. The aroma is very heavy on the black licorice. I was expecting it due to the name of the beer, but it was still a little surprising that the aroma was that powerful.
The flavor is more balanced. There is a lot of black licorice, but I also get some chocolate, vanilla and roasted malt. The flavor profile was a pleasant surprise.
Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.
nice looking black pour with a frothy head and nice retention and skimming. very spicy flavor and strange palate. pretty drinkable for what it is, but this is definitely a great equivilent to the black jelly bean for shorts dessert line of beers. worth a try.
(Draught) Pours an opaque black body with a small beige head. Aroma of roasted malt, black licorice, mint, chocolate, and anise. Flavor of roasted malt, black licorice, vanilla, hint of citrus, and chocolate with a dry finish.
355ml bottle from northernbrews. bottled 050710. pours deep reddish brown with a tan head. decent black malt nose. i dont get any of the extra ingredients. the flavour is pretty straight forward dark lager. hides the abv well. the finish is a little muddled as thats where most of the extras show up. good but less then the sum of its parts.
Bottle: Much like licorice, black with dark brown hues on the edges, moderate sudsy beige head, spotty lacing. Strong Anise on the nose. Not sure what else is there because the Anise is so strong. Perhaps a little earthy, some peat and campfire. Mossy too. Whoa, now that is some licorice on the tongue. Otherwise strong carob flavors, very strong, maybe stronger than the licorice. Sweet, almost too sweet. Almost needs some bitterness to balance it out or something. Drinking a 750ml of this might be a little difficult. Has this carob or tootsie roll like flavor in the background. Doesn’t sit too well with me. Body and mouthfeel are moderate. A little unbalanced in its dominance of anise/licorice. Seems less of a beer and more of a novelty. Bring up the body, the maltiness, and tone down the licorice aspect and then you might have something unique enough to be remembered for being good, not for being difficult to finish. Glad I had a chance to try this anyway. Thanks Derek!
750ml bottle #ed to 744 shared with some of the Chicago crew.
A - Pours black, cream-colored head, thin cap, no lacing.
S - Chocolate, mint, sweet malts, oak. If you like mint chocolate chip ice cream, then this is your beer. Unlike anything else I’ve had the pleasure of trying. Pretty cool.
T - Not quite as good as the nose. Chocolate, very very slight mint, some oak/barrel, no real alcohol detection. I think the hops have long faded and this one might be heading downhill. I still enjoyed it, but others couldn’t finish their glasses.
M - Light bodied, slight carbonation, slightly creamy finish.
D - Another interesting one by Short’s. I think this one would have been better a year or so ago and is heading downwards. I enjoyed it, but others at the tasting didn’t like it so much. Try at your own risk. That said, I think you could say that with most/all of Short’s crazy beers.
750 ml thanks to a good friend Jim!
A-pours a dark brown or black colored liquid letting a hint of light through with a ton of thick and creamy light brown head with some bubbles on top.
S-rich milk chocolate and notes of vanilla are up front, notes of wood in the middle as the black licorice takes over and doesn’t let go, clearly the strongest aroma in the beer.
T-the taste has more flavors and is more rich, the black licorice is there the whole time but the flavors work more in harmony in the flavor than they did in the nose. milk chocolate and vanilla up front, the licorice comes in at the middle and lingers throughout, however notes of toffee and and more milk chocolate come in at the back. the licorice lingers after the sip and burns the throat a little.
M-full bodied, creamy, chewy, very smooth on the palate with a good carbonation back to hold the body.
D-very interesting beer, tons of licorice everywhere but the flavor seems to meld some rich chocolaty malts and the licorice to create a very dessert like beer that hasn’t been seen before.
Draft on tap at Brickhouse BBQ (Madison, WI). Pours a pitchblack opaque pour with maybe a touch lighter edges, a frothy large brown head laces well, dies to a reasonable layer. Aromas are black licorice jelly beans, a touch of anise, light sweet bready malts, and nyquil. Initial is a touch of roast and heavier black licorice, anise, bready malts, creamy body. Heavier side of light bodied, with full flavors, light bitterness. Impressive beer on the lighter scale when it comes to a flavor ratio. A lot of licorice, lighter roast, a touch of creaminess but a bit astringent almost tart towards the finish which is strange. Vanilla, cocoa, and a touch of mint moves into the fold. Nice