San Miguel's Dark Lager

Here's how you know you have a problem--even a crap beer is a must-buy because you haven't seen the dark version of the crap beer you've had before.

Pours a deep brown, with a nice tan head that's fizzy like it should be for a lager. Smells sickly sweet though, and a bit like raisins. I hate that I just used that word in describing a beer. Someone please shoot me if I ever say 'cloying'.

Eh. Just a stronger Budweiser. A little sweeter, a little more roasted, and a little more bitter. Not a very good beer, because it's just too sweet.

Warsteiner Dunkel

One of my favorite German dark lagers, puts the crap Shiner and many US brewers pump out to shame. Pours a deep raisin-like brown. paque-ish, with a nice light tan head that stays.

Smells zippy, more like a lighter lager than expected. Still has a deeper malt than the straight lagers, with a bit of the funk of a German pils.

Pretty much the same in the taste--darker than usual in appearance, a little heavier and slower than most lagers, but still nice and light with a decent bitterness and malt.

No tterriby sexy, but well worth it.

Lakefront Brewery's Eastside Dark

This is probably my favorite Eastside beer, but I don't suppose that's saying much.

Pours a deep, opaque but obviously lighter bodied brown, like a bock or rauchbier. Very good light tan head for a lager, which gets pillowy and stays around for a while.

Standard starkbier smell. More crisp than ales this dark, but more substantial than most lagers. Not as heavy as a bock, but slightly roasted and slightly bready.

Good, clean taste like many lagers have as well. Still somewhat bready with a slight roasted flavor, but lighter in body and flavor than a brown, which woudl be the closest ale in all categories. Overall a good beer. Nothing too sexy, but it would be a better go-to beer than many standards available in Texas.