Stone Spröcket Bier
Rick Blankemeier & Robert Chandler’s Sprocketbier Black Rye Kolsch Style.
We’ve been brewing together for the better part of three years. Rick is an amazing homebrewer and always has at least one spare recipe hidden somewhere in that magnificent head of his. Robbie, on the other hand, is the Igor to Rich’s Dr. Frankenstein (but with less hunchback and more beard). Armed with only a four-letter acronym (KISS) and a mission to make a beer that was balanced and complex but still sessionable, Rick jotted down a recipe on a sticky note that would impress even the most seasoned brewmaster.
Out of 19 amazing beers brewed by 19 teams of the best brewers at Stone Brewing Co., Steve Wagner (Co-founder & President), Greg Koch (Co-founder & CEO), and Mitch Steele (Brewmaster) chose this one after a blind tasting of the top nine beers. As we write this, we are honored and humbled by the decision to select our beer for the very first Stone Brewing Co. Spotlight Series release. Our original goal was to pay tribute to the SNL Sprockets skit by creating a beer that even Dieter would think "is dark and easy to drink," and we’re pretty sure we succeeded (Dieter’s not around to ask).
We love this beer and can’t wait to share it with beer geeks and Stone fans around the country. Before you delve into this Impressively Dark and Amazingly Balanced beer, let us propose a toast to the ones we have lost, and to those of us who will never let their memories be forgotten…… Cheers, Prost, Salud and Good Memories to all!
We’ve been brewing together for the better part of three years. Rick is an amazing homebrewer and always has at least one spare recipe hidden somewhere in that magnificent head of his. Robbie, on the other hand, is the Igor to Rich’s Dr. Frankenstein (but with less hunchback and more beard). Armed with only a four-letter acronym (KISS) and a mission to make a beer that was balanced and complex but still sessionable, Rick jotted down a recipe on a sticky note that would impress even the most seasoned brewmaster.
Out of 19 amazing beers brewed by 19 teams of the best brewers at Stone Brewing Co., Steve Wagner (Co-founder & President), Greg Koch (Co-founder & CEO), and Mitch Steele (Brewmaster) chose this one after a blind tasting of the top nine beers. As we write this, we are honored and humbled by the decision to select our beer for the very first Stone Brewing Co. Spotlight Series release. Our original goal was to pay tribute to the SNL Sprockets skit by creating a beer that even Dieter would think "is dark and easy to drink," and we’re pretty sure we succeeded (Dieter’s not around to ask).
We love this beer and can’t wait to share it with beer geeks and Stone fans around the country. Before you delve into this Impressively Dark and Amazingly Balanced beer, let us propose a toast to the ones we have lost, and to those of us who will never let their memories be forgotten…… Cheers, Prost, Salud and Good Memories to all!
3.5
409 reviews
Escondido, United States
Community reviews
Vom Fass in Berlin. Ein schwarzes Kölsch?!? Tief schwarze Farbe. Beiger Schaum. Es duftet nussig nach Schokolade und etwas Burbon Vanille. Sanft röstiger Geschmack. Etwas flach. Im Abgang Roggenbrot und verbranntes Malz. Eigenwillig.!
Black rye kolsch style. Dark beer slightly bitter. Something different. Enjoyed.
Bottle pour into nonic pint glass from Lucia’s Bodega. Appearance is very dark brown with mahogany accent--virtually black opaque--with finger-width brown foamy head with fair retention and nice sticky lacing. Aroma is dark fruits, molasses, dark chocolate, mild anise. Taste is dark fruits, dark chocolate, mild anise and some earthy hops. Palate is medium-to-full bodied with thick texture, soft-to-average carbonation and mostly sweet with mild bitter finish. Overall, a nice dark malty treat without being overly sweet or heavy.
Draft. A black beer with a lazing brown head. The aroma has notes of roasted malt, over ripe fruit, and caramel. The flavor is sweet with notes of roasted malt, bread, rye, and over ripe fruits, leading to a dry roasted finish.
Chocolate and coffee in aroma and taste. Raisin and some light smoke. Low bitterness. Soft, oily feeling. Nice
Bottle, 5.4%. Very dark brown with small beige head. Aroma is roasted malt, caramel, chocolate, hop and a little bread. Flavour is roasted malts, chocolate, caramel, bread, medium sweet, hop, liquorice and a medium bitter.
Bottle- pours brown with an off white head. Aroma is rye malt, chocolate, with a sweetness. Taste is burnt sugar with a roast malt finish.
Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Berlin, today. Fantastic, toasty, roasty, rye fuelled beer. Although about a million miles away from any traditional Kölsch I’ve ever had. Not that that detracts in any way from the wonderful beer!
From tap at CBC 2016. Hazy dark brown colour with a beige head. Aroma and flavour of caramel, malt, spice, hops and sweetness.
Brown light opalescent with a beige head. Aromas of hay, wet earth, toast and peppery spice develops with a floral/flowery touch. Fine carbonation, watery texture and a light body show a light sweetness with a light bitterness encompassed by subtle peppery spiceyness. Short-medium finish. Pleasant.
Rauch, Röstmalz und viel Dörrobstaromen. Während des Trunkes dann schlank süß und auch ein wenig weinlastig. Komplex und so gar nicht Kölsch 😀 .0,15l/2,90€ frisch vom Hahn.
Tap@Copenhagen Beer Celebration 2016, Copenhagen - pours black with a beige head. Aroma and taste is medium sweet malty, some caramel, treacle, hoppy backing into the close.
Pours black with a cappuccino coloured foamy head. A nutty, earthy aroma much like a dunke with hints of vanilla. Much like the aroma it’s very nutty and earthy with plenty of roasted malt in there too. A canny brew but perhaps I should have planned to share this bottle.
On tap @ CBC-16. Dark reddish brown with a medium tan head. malty and sweet tones. Malt, fruit, roasted and hops. Medium body with a bitter / roasted finish.
CBC16, red session, tap. Clear dark brown with a beige head. Aroma medium malty (caramel, roasted, rye, spicy, coffee) and hoppy (grass). Flavor medium sweet, spicy and bitter. Medium body.
14-MAY-2016, draft @CBC Red Session with Ulkløbben:-)
Black with a lasting tan head.
Fart, fresh pils, hay, straw field, touch of roast. Nice.
[5/14/16] Draught sample at Copenhagen Beer Celebration 2016. Red session. Brown. Nuts, rye, toast, sweet, spicy.
Sample at CBC 2016. Dark malty smell with hard bread. Similar taste. Malt focused with a spicy aroma that is hard to describe.
Sample at CBC 2016.
Almost black with a medium head. Aroma of grass, some coffee, malt and caramel. Simlar taste. Mild and easy to drink.
Shared 22 oz. bottle. Pours almost black with a lasting tan meringue-like head. Aroma is roasted malt, chocolate, and caramel. Taste is similar to nose, and also has a lager-like component. Interesting. It’s a cross between a kolsch and a porter. Good.
Aroma: roasty and malty with some coffee notes; Appearance: pitch black with tan head that is pillowy and slow to fade; Taste: interesting combination of porter and kolsch. Refreshing but heavy at the same time; Palate: heavy mouthfeel with long, sweet/bready finish; Overall: pretty good; would buy again.
Pours a goldenblack with small fizzy head. Aromas of citrus peel, hops, and a touch of grain. Flavors of hops, malts with a spicy finish.
May 7th, 2014 - Auto-correct is convinced that Bier is Beer, but whatever the name, this is a gripping kolsch. It’s a style I don’t see much, and it might catch a break and be trendy one year, like today’s gose or yesterday’s black IPA, but for now, it seems to live in relative obscurity. Stone’s Sprocket is a great reason to bring it out into the light. Dark and still, it looks like a lake at night, with an aroma defined by heavy sugary molasses notes. Second and third sniffs take in hickory smoke and jerky too, with lots of aromas to remind me of grilled meats, charring and turning into something special through the magic of the maillard reaction. The flavor is equally delicious and appetizing, though a little sweeter, especially cold and fresh from the bottle. Carbonation helps activate the flavors, too, though softens considerably in the aftertaste, where I can focus on the bits of flavor that remind me of burnt ends. Quenching yet flavorful, this is a surprising but excellent beer, and has pointed me to the rich possibilities of the kolsch style.
Bomber from The Wine Specialist. Dark brown body with thin tan head. Nose is malty, caramel, sweet. Taste is malty, spicy, caramel. Creamy texture. Smooth finish. Some citrus notes.
750 ml bottle. Mostly black body (red highlight at the very edge) topped with a cappuccino like foam. Aromas of coffee, hay, cocoa and caramel. Taste is gentle grassy notes at first but then a surprisingly firm black coffee bitterness emerges. Creamy body with a rich chocolatey aftertaste. Can kind of see the kolsch angle but it really drinks more like a porter than anything else.
Bottle poured into crappy 8oz plastic hotel cup. Malty coffee aroma. Dark, nearly black. Flavor is diff, but as intended, I think. Coffee, burnt malt with a hint of cola? Interesting. Good one time purchase
Poured into a snifter.
3.75 A: Black color. Two and a half fingers of frothy beige head. Retention is good and plenty of spotty lacing is left.
4.0 S: This smells great! The kolsch is certainly there with a sweet grassiness and mineral earthiness. In addition there’s a moderate roastiness, cocoa powder, and caramel sweetness.
4.25 T: Tastes like it smells. The grassy hay sweet maltiness works wonders with the roastiness.
4.0 M: Lighter medium body. Good moderate carbonation. Supremely smooth.
4.5 D: This shouldn’t work, but it does. I hope this sticks around.
★ 590 characters
DavoleBomb, Oct 18, 2014
Bomber purchased 18 months ago at the BevMo in Escondido ($7.49). Pours dark brown and almost black with the faintest of red highlights along the edges and one finger of dark beige foam. AROMA of wet dog (weird), dark roasted malts, dark rye bread, and black coffee. FLAVOR of dark roasted and kind of burnt malts, sharp rye, burnt dark bread, a little bit of sour grains, and some hints of coffee. Thin mouthfeel and light body with a dry finish. I suppose the brewers succeeded in what they intended to do here, but I don’t really think I need to experience a black rye Kolsch again. (365, 995)
Rating #1293 - 21.10.2014 - Stone launch @craftbeeryeg. This was a dark brown/black coloured pour with a mild tan foam that faded to a ring. Nose was teddy graham cookies, chocolate, toffee, and vegetable oil. Mild alcohol warmth and carbonation (well disguised at 6.6%) Taste is lagery, a mild peppery smokiness from the rye grain, mild toffee and caramel malt sweetness, but a load of noble hop grassiness. Finishes smooth, and super light - the dark roast malt notes coming through clean, crisp, kolsch-esque. Strange.
Pours a cloudy dark chocolate brown color that appears pitch black and completely opaque in the glass. Two finger pillowy beige head that very slowly settles into a thick, lasting ring. Good retention, taking a while to settle and leaving streaks of soapy lacing in it’s path.
Slightly earthy, robust dark malt aroma with a nice balance of roast, spice, grassy hops and sweet malt. Delicate smoke character with hints of charcoal, burnt toast, dark chocolate and deeply roast coffee bean. There’s also some subtle spicy rye in the nose but this is overpowered by the strong malt presence. The earthier/hoppier kolsch notes come through, however, with some grassy saaz character, pine needle and dank resins. Smells more like an American black ale and I probably wouldn’t have been able to guess that this was a kolsch if I didn’t read it on the bottle.
Fuller bodied than expected with a bit more of a kolsch flavor profile but the prominent dark malt bill, resinous hops and subtle spice make it feel more like an experimental ABA. Strong hop presence with sticky hop oils, earthy pine needle, grass and spruce tip flavor that linger throughout into a bone dry finish. Slightly acrid but the roast isn’t as extreme as in the nose. Hints of charcoal, burnt toast, coffee grounds and bittersweet dark chocolate countered by sweeter malt flavors and faint spicy rye. Again, the rye is subtle but it nicely compliments the earthy hop bitterness. Decent balance with low ABV and light mouthfeel make this beer pretty easy to drink. Nothing too out of the ordinary but it’s an interesting take on the style.