Heineken says:
“A well-balanced, deep-amber lager with flavors of fruit, yeast and toasted malt.”
Heineken Dark Lager
Euro Dark Lager, 5% ABV
*This beer was provided by the brewer for the purpose of a review.
Karl: While not a bad attempt at a dark or black lager, this is never going to supplant something like Kostritzer on taphandles at German beer halls.
Smoother than a regular Heineken, this beer lacks the tell-tale “skunk” taste that I’ve come to associate, and even appreciate, from a regular bottle of Heineken.
Noticeable caramel taste masks the barest hint of a malty backbone, and for the most part it’s not a bad beer. It never hits the highs of other dark lagers, nor does it hit any particular lows.
While it’s not likely that I’ll ever find myself opting to drink this over other offerings, if you’re at a place where normally Heineken is the best of a bad lot and this has replaced it temporarily, you could certainly do much worse.
Ryan: Heineken Dark is a rather drama-free approach to doing something a little different. You don’t have to rewrite history to put out a good beer and Heineken has done just that, putting out a pretty solid dark lager.
There isn’t anything particularly off about this beer nor is there anything that wows me, which is perfectly acceptable.
What you do have is a rather smooth and easy drinking dark lager that is one-note, caramel, but it’s a tasty one-note. Sure there’s a bit of earthy hops poking through on the finish and some toffee and cola-like qualities on the back-end, but mostly this is just a mildly sweet, smooth dark beer.
And that is a-okay by me.