Style Details

Name
Czech Dark Lager
Cate­go­ry
Czech Lager
BJCP Style Code
3 D
Appearance
Dark cop­per to almost black color, often with a red or gar­net tint. Clear to bright cla­ri­ty. Lar­ge, off-white to tan, per­sis­tent head.
Aro­ma
Medi­um to medi­um-high rich, deep, some­ti­mes sweet mal­ti­ness, with optio­nal qua­li­ties such as bread crusts, toast, nuts, cola, dark fruit, or cara­mel. Roas­ted malt cha­rac­ters such as cho­co­la­te or sweeten­ed cof­fee can vary from mode­ra­te to none but should not over­whelm the base malt cha­rac­ter. Low, spi­cy hop aro­ma is optio­nal. Low diace­tyl and low frui­ty esters (plums or ber­ries) may be present.
Fla­vour
Medi­um to medi­um-high deep, com­plex mal­ti­ness domi­na­tes, typi­cal­ly with mal­ty-rich Mail­lard pro­ducts and a light to mode­ra­te resi­du­al malt sweet­ness. Malt fla­vors such as cara­mel, toast, nuts, lico­ri­ce, dried dark fruit, cho­co­la­te and cof­fee may also be pre­sent, with very low to mode­ra­te roast cha­rac­ter. Spi­cy hop fla­vor can be modera­te­ly-low to none. Hop bit­ter­ness may be mode­ra­te to medi­um-low but should be per­cep­ti­ble. Balan­ce can vary from mal­ty to rela­tively well-balan­ced to gent­ly hop-for­ward. Low to mode­ra­te diace­tyl and light plum or ber­ry esters may be present. 
Mouth­feel
Medi­um to medi­um-full body, con­sidera­ble mouth­feel wit­hout being hea­vy or cloy­ing. Modera­te­ly cre­a­my in tex­tu­re. Smooth. Mode­ra­te to low car­bo­na­ti­on. Can have a slight alco­hol warmth in stron­ger versions.
Over­all Impression
A rich, dark, mal­ty Czech lager with a roast cha­rac­ter that can vary from almost absent to quite pro­mi­nent. Mal­ty with an inte­res­t­ing and com­plex fla­vor pro­fi­le, with varia­ble levels of hop­ping pro­vi­ding a ran­ge of pos­si­ble interpretations.
Typi­cal Ingredients
Pils­ner and dark cara­mel malts with the addi­ti­on of debit­te­red roas­ted malts are most com­mon, but addi­ti­ons of Vien­na or Munich malt are also appro­pria­te. Low mine­ral con­tent water, Saa­zer-type hops, Czech lager yeast. Any frui­ty esters are typi­cal­ly from malt, not yeast.
Histo­ry
The U Flek? bre­wery has been ope­ra­ting in Pra­gue sin­ce 1499. Many small, new bre­we­ries are bre­wing this style.
Comm­ents
This style is a com­bi­na­ti­on of the Czech styl­es tma­vý ležák (11–12.9 °P) and tma­vé spe­ciální pivo (13–14.9 °P). More modern examp­les are drier and have hig­her bit­ter­ness while tra­di­tio­nal ver­si­ons often have IBUs in the 18–20 ran­ge with a swee­ter balance.
Com­mer­cial Examples
Bohe­mi­an Bre­wery Cher­ny Bock 4%, Bud­wei­ser Bud­var B:Dark tma­vý ležák, Devils Back­bone Mora­na, Kout na Šumav? Kout­ský tma­vý spe­ciál 14°, Notch ?erné Pivo, Pivo­var B?eznice Herold, U Flek? Fle­kovs­ký tma­vý 13° ležák
Ori­gi­nal Gravity
1.044 - 1.060 SG
Final Gra­vi­ty
1.013 - 1.017 SG
Color
14 - 35 SRM
Alco­hol
4.0 - 5.0 %vol
Bit­ter­ness
18 - 34 IBU