The first time I tried a schwarzbier was a few years ago at a beer festival. There were booths where they served Köstritzer. I really liked the beer, but in Hungary they are the only widely available brand of schwarzbier so I never really had the chance to experience other brands. When I started homebrewing, I bought the Mashmaker from Michael Dawson, in this book resides today's recipe. This is my first time brewing this style of beer, so I was very excited to get my hands dirty.