Review: Short’s Sustenance Black Beer

In Beer Reviews by Ryan

how could this picture be crooked? I hadn’t started drinking yet.

Short’s says:

Black is the beer, but soft and sweet on the palate. Rich flavor stems from roasted and dark caramel grains. Sustenance is a very delightful and easy drinking lager with strong emphasis on the balanced malt profile.

Short’s Sustenance Black Beer
Schwarzbier, ?% ABV

Sayeth the Guys

Ryan: Sorry about the lack of a picture of the beer itself.  This beer, and few others I’m reviewing this week, we’re consumed out of a 6 oz plastic cup at my hotel room in Michigan during a recent business trip.  I know I have said this before, but I should at least pack a pint glass from home for these trips.

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This offering from Short’s is an advertised…to an extent.  It did pour black, pitch black to be exact, with a nice khaki, tan head.  So that jives with the “Black Beer” description on the label. But don’t let the rest of it, which reads: “For when you’re hungry and thirsty,” intimidate you.  This is a German Schwarzbier which essentially means it is a dark beer but not a porter or a stout.  Think of Sustenance as a dark in color, high in flavor and light in body beer.

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Stick your nose in your glass, or in my case a plastic cup (sigh), and you smell hints of toffee and caramel.  The taste is similar to the smell; toffee, soft, chewy caramel and coffee.  Sustenance finishes with a touch of hop bitterness.

This is a very easy to drink, sessionable offering from Short’s.  Again, don’t let the label fool you.  This is not going to sit in your stomach like a ton of bricks.  In fact, you’ll probably want to head back to the fridge and polish off one or two more.

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About the Author

Ryan

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Equal parts beer nerd and policy geek, Ryan is now the curator of the Guys Drinking Beer cellar. The skills he once used to dig through the annals of state government as a political reporter are now put to use offering unique takes on barrel-aged stouts, years-old barleywines and 10 + year verticals.

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