One of my favourite dark beer

My latest Planet S column is out (you can read it here) and in honour of the ever-shortening daylight hours, I decided to focus on dark beer. But I didn’t want to do the usual winter-y sit by the fire beer. I wanted to open up pale beer drinkers to some of the possibilities of dark beer. In other words, dispel the myth that all dark beer taste like Guinness. I know most of you know that already, but it seems a lesson I must repeat every time I do a tasting.

So my goals were simple in this piece. Offer up some ideas for dark beer that explore the range of dark beer flavours. I begin with the rather pedestrian, but well-made Warsteiner Dark. I quickly move onto Paddock Wood’s mainstay Black Cat Lager. I toss in a recommendation of two for heartier dark beer and then tease the Saskatchewan readers with a dark style not found in Saskatchewan (yet).

As the column is written for a Saskatchewan magazine, I couldn’t toss out some other great dark beer simply because they aren’t available in that province. However, I think the beer selected, regardless of where you live, offer the uninitiated a nice introduction to the dark side of beer.

Feel free to give it a read, and/or to post YOUR favourite dark beer. I am always curious what others most appreciate.