Uinta Brewing Co. - Baba Black Lager

This past weekend I decided to crack open one of the brews that my brother sent to me for my birthday. As you may recall, he sent a ginormous box from Seattle filled with various West Coast / Rockies beers, many of which are not distributed in the mid-Atlantic region.

Today's review is of the Baba Black Lager, a 4% ABV black beer (or, more accurately, a schwarzbier)  brewed by the Uinta Brewing Company in Salt Lake City, Utah. Also, for the record, I am well aware that Utah is not precisely on the West Coast.

Organic, kosher, and brewed using 100% renewable power, the Baba is released in bottles and cans. The color of the pour is black, as the name suggests.

Courtesy 20th Century Fox

The pour out of the can was quick, surprisingly - many dark beers are often slow and thick so the quickness of pour surprised me. As you can see, there was a khaki-colored head that was very foamy. The beer laced the inside of the glass very well and the nose was of mixed malts, deep roasted grains, and chocolate.  There wasn't a lot of carbonation to this beer, which I frankly like. I've had too many over-carbonated beers in my time to dislike them. That's also why you will find very few, if any, sparkling white wine reviews on here. Your intrepid blogger does not like burping carbonation through his nose.

The taste didn't disappoint at all. Baba had a nice clean lager taste, which I wasn't expecting. There were no traces of burnt anything, no dark smoky flavors, but a deep clear smoothness. It's also a little bit sugary, too, which is nice. All the flavors were subtle and clear - I keep using that word - with no traces of nastiness (technical term) or unneeded flavors. I tasted a bit of chocolate and warm malt flavors with some smoke in there, too. The finish was smooth with very little aftertaste, and no flavors lingered on the palate.

It's kind of unusual, in my opinion, but in a good way. I was pleasantly surprised. I guess that's where the "lager" comes in - it's not a porter or a stout so it doesn't have that gravity associated with it. I would heartily recommend this to anyone looking for a dark beer but not looking for roasted / charred / singed / burnt / toasted / burnt-to-a-crisp hops flavor.

The light and dark tones of this beer make it exceptionally drinkable and I could see myself having this beer on hand just to enjoy. In addition, the fact that the beer pours and drinks like a lager makes it appropriate for summertime enjoyment as well - a time when most stouts and porters are relegated to the cellar to age for wintertime. The more I think about it, Baba might be a good introduction to beer novices who might be used to lighter fare - folks who might be reading this who aren't into beer. Naturally, I can definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good sessional beer. Baba is fine on its own, but could work well with desserts particularly. I'm imagining a nice chocolate pudding, or perhaps some chocolate eclairs.

As far as I know, Uinta is available on a limited basis here on the East Coast. I've never seen their stuff but SeekABrew says they are available out here, so who knows. If you see the Baba black lager, give it a shot!