McSorley's Irish Black Lager - Pabst Brewing Company

    McSorley's Irish Black Lager is, unsurprisingly, a Black Lager which is apparently created by the Pabst Brewing Company located in Woodridge, Illinois. I use the word "apparently" because the bottle tells me that it is made by McSorley's Brewery in Utica, New York, while everything else I can find about the beer online tells me that Pabst makes the beer. Also, another fun fact, I have no idea where this beer came from. I found it at the back of my refrigerator and I honestly don't remember ever buying it. How mysterious! (Yeah I know, I'm kind of wondering if it's safe to drink this as well. Ohwell, the bottle was sealed!)

    McSorley's pours a dark coffee color with a nice khaki head. The bubbles seem to dissipate quickly though, unlike those found in Irish Stouts.

     The Black Lager smells very sweet with chocolate and caramel roasted malts. There is also the faintest scent of dark fruits in the aroma.

    McSorley's Irish Black Lager is actually quite light bodied. The beer has a mid-high level of carbonation that comes off as kind of harsh against the thin body. I would definitely prefer the body be a bit thicker to stand up against the carbonation.

Can beer get much more Irish?

    The Lager's flavor is mostly sweet and roasty. Flavors of molasses and slight caramel hit first followed by a slight bitterness from the hops. There is actually a sourness to the beer for some reason which I find unpleasant. The beer finishes dry with an aftertaste that isn't too overbearing and fades quickly. The beer's alcohol content comes in at 5.5% ABV, a pretty standard level for beers at which no flavor nor warmth can be perceived.

    It's a little known fact that old Mr. McSorley was a fine connoisseur of literature as well as watercolors. They say that he would often sit in his pub reading and painting scenes from the book at the same time. People would marvel at his great works of art while enjoying a pint in his ale house. Yeah, I'm totally just making this up. From what I can find online, Mr. McSorley was quite a woman-hating grump.  The bottle states that it took 116 years and a court order for the McSorley Ale House to allow women inside its doors. Maybe the sourness that I taste in the beer is actually Mr. McSorley's bitterness making its way into the beer with his name on it. From now on I think I'll just call him Mr. McSourly, or Mr. McSorely.

    Overall the flavors in McSorley's Irish Black Lager are pretty spot-on for a beer of this style, if a bit milder than I would like. The sourness in the ale definitely detracts from it's desirability as a session beer. In the end, McSorley's is just another beer that suffers the "good, but nothing special" problem.

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