Sunken Silo Black Orpheus

Review Date 5/14/2022  By John Staradumsky

  Style: Schwarzbier   Brewery: Sunken Silo   Country: USA   State: New Jersey   $ Per OZ: $.28 (B)   ABV: 5.4%

I got some beer from the Beer Samurai! Yes I did! All New Jersey beers mind you, and the last one of them that I drank was Sunken Silo Black Orpheus, a German-style Schwarzbier. Hadn’t I had a beer from Sunken Silo before? I had not. It was Sunken City of Virginia, not Sunken Silo of New Jersey. I just can’t keep up anymore.

OK, so off to the brewery website. They have Black Orpheus listed under their Not Hop Forward section, about which they also add: All these beers are not hoppy. This makes me chuckle, not because it is not true, but because they need to have such a section in today’s hop-obsessed beer world. Anyway, here’s what they say about Black Orpheus:

Schwarzbier (black lager) – 5.4% ABV. A Collaboration with Ashton Brewing, this beer may be a new style to you, and it may be as charming as its name implies. Germanic in origin, dark in color, mildly roasty, but with lighter mouthfeel and crisp and crushable.

Well of course, this beer is not a new style to me. I love Schwarzbier and have since the late 80s (give or take a few years). That good old Beer Samurai does too, I recall him mentioning it is one of this favorite styles. So there you go. All the same, thanks Sunken Silo and Ashton Brewing for making one-too few breweries do!

My can is stamped CANNED ON 02/27/2022 DON’T LOOK BACK. The brewery sells this beer for $18 a 4-pack, but I could not find it listed on Total Wine’s website. This is the only pricing information I have.

Sunken Silo Black Orpheus pours to a jet-black color with a thick creamy tan head and a nose of roast and chocolate pudding. Taking a sip, the beer is medium in body, quite smooth, and again roasty, with more of the bittersweet chocolate notes to boot. It is clean of fruity esters and finishes satisfying with a big roasty bitterness. A hint of smoke? I get that, too.

All in all a very fine Schwarzbier, and one I’m glad I tried, and would certainly buy if I saw it available.

Glad I tried it?  T

Would I rebuy it??