24 Days of B.C. Beer: Tmavý Pivo 13 by Slowhand Brewing (No.1)

Welcome to 24 Days of B.C. Beer, in which we guide you through what might be a very dark month (literally and figuratively). Aren’t you glad we’re here to tell you what to drain your sorrows with?

If you’re not a person who is going to be drinking a beer every day this month, well, I envy you. But also, more for the rest of us.

While this list won’t be completely full of beer that looks to be different shades of black, I had to go full Anakin and turn to the dark side for the first instalment—and I promise it’s worth it.

I’ve long been a fan of Slow Hand Beer Company and its “simple styles done well” approach (its West Coast Pale Ale is for my money the best of its kind in the city). So I had a good amount of faith that it would deliver on one of my favourite types of beer—the dark lager.

In this instance (as in most), I have no problem saying I was right. The Tmavý Pivo 13 Czech Dark Lager is a riff on a type of beer that is apparently sweeping the Czech Republic. That’s right, with this recommendation you also sorta kinda get to imagine you’re travelling central Europe.

But Slowhand’s take is incredibly smooth for a 5.5 percent dark lager and throws in a hint of roasted chocolate; perfect to look out at the blustery weather outside and be glad you’re stuck indoors (take that, pandemic).

The only problem in starting this series off with Slowhand is having to try and improve on it. I mean, uh, I totally have this whole thing planned out and you’re going to be shocked and amazed at how I pull it off. (Is this what the creators of Lost felt like?)

Anywho, come back tomorrow and the next day for more rambling about good beer.