Part of why we enjoy the changing of the seasons is that we can finally drink darker beers. And while we’re very close to going all-in on stouts, porters, and scotch ales, we can still get behind lagers during these late-fall days. Especially dark and black lagers.

In the simplest terms, dark lagers (also known as dunkels) are darker than regular lagers and get their color and flavor from dark malts. Black lagers (also known as Schwarzbiers) are black in color and primarily have strong chocolate, coffee (and sometimes smoky) flavors. Similar to stouts, they draw those flavor notes from roasted malts.