Prykmestar Savuvehnä
Vakka-Suomen Panimo
- From:
- Vakka-Suomen Panimo
- Finland
- Style:
- Smoked Beer
- ABV:
- 5.5%
- Score:
- +6 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 3.61 | pDev: 8.59%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Oct 27, 2016
- Added:
- Feb 14, 2015
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 1
NO SCORE
-
-
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by Jugs_McGhee from Texas
3.33/5 rDev -7.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
3.33/5 rDev -7.8%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
The name translates roughly to "smoked wheat." This uses smoked malts purchased from Bamberg per the label - but I figure this is just marketing speak and they're probably just buying from Weyermann like everyone else...
BOTTLE: Best before: 08.09.15. 50cl. Brown glass. Branded black pry-off crown cap. Uninspired label art. Served cold into a pilsner glass in Helsinki, Finland, and allowed to come to temperature over the course of consumption. Expectations are above average; I love a good rauchbier.
5.50% ABV.
No bubble show forms as it's poured.
HEAD: ~1 inch wide. Thin, pathetic, weak, and fizzy, receding completely within ten seconds, leaving no lacing.
BODY: It'd be thin for a rauchbier, but as a rauchweizen it's fine. Still, its weak yellow-brown colour makes it seem anything but robust. It's not the hazy vibrant orange of a great weissbier, and it's not the opaque strong deep brown of a good rauchbier; instead, it's caught in the middle and comes off uninviting as a result.
Carbonation seems way off.
AROMA: It does have a Bambergian smoked malt character with notes of smoked boar and bacon, but the smokiness is shallow and restrained. Caramel sugars and faint brown malts lend it apt almost syrupy sugars, but the wheat leavens it.
The problem suggested by the appearance - that its hybridity of the two constituent styles is to its detriment - is also suggested by the aroma; this aroma just comes off suggesting a weak watery rauchbier, and I don't notice any benefits of wheat.
Aromatic intensity is below average. More intense smokiness and a more robust malt profile would really help.
No overt hop notes or yeast are/is detectable.
TASTE & TEXTURE: The first thing I notice is its dire overcarbonation; this is like carbonated water, replete with a fizzy sharpness on the palate and a prickly feel. Medium-bodied where it should be full-bodied, lacking sufficient heft and weight to support the flavour profile - which itself should be more sugary and robust.
The malt backbone is lackluster in large part due to the leavening wheat, which just plain doesn't belong. Apart from that, though, the sugars from the caramel and wood are nice, and the smokiness - the heart of the beer - works. It's not horribly deep or intricate, but the one-two punch of smoke and meat works wonders. It's not harsh or ashy, like many poor homebrew rauchbiere, and I find it well balanced for the most part.
The smoothness and wetness is more evidence of the tug towards the wheat beer side, and this would work better with more of a coarse and dry (or even rough) feel.
Not gestalt, and there's not a harmony of texture to taste, but it's well-executed in spite of its flaws.
OVERALL: Schlenkerla managed to pull off a hell of a rauchweiss, but Vakka-Suomen is not Schlenkerla, and just because the best producer of rauchbiere with hundreds of years of experience and tradition can do it doesn't mean you can. That said, this is a spirited inspired attempt, and has nice smokey attributes, but it won't impress the discerning drinker. Well-worth trying when in Finland, and a beer I'd buy again. But don't expect anything world-class or unique. If they could just drop the wheat beer characteristics, this would be vastly superior. Highly drinkable.
B-
Jun 16, 2015BOTTLE: Best before: 08.09.15. 50cl. Brown glass. Branded black pry-off crown cap. Uninspired label art. Served cold into a pilsner glass in Helsinki, Finland, and allowed to come to temperature over the course of consumption. Expectations are above average; I love a good rauchbier.
5.50% ABV.
No bubble show forms as it's poured.
HEAD: ~1 inch wide. Thin, pathetic, weak, and fizzy, receding completely within ten seconds, leaving no lacing.
BODY: It'd be thin for a rauchbier, but as a rauchweizen it's fine. Still, its weak yellow-brown colour makes it seem anything but robust. It's not the hazy vibrant orange of a great weissbier, and it's not the opaque strong deep brown of a good rauchbier; instead, it's caught in the middle and comes off uninviting as a result.
Carbonation seems way off.
AROMA: It does have a Bambergian smoked malt character with notes of smoked boar and bacon, but the smokiness is shallow and restrained. Caramel sugars and faint brown malts lend it apt almost syrupy sugars, but the wheat leavens it.
The problem suggested by the appearance - that its hybridity of the two constituent styles is to its detriment - is also suggested by the aroma; this aroma just comes off suggesting a weak watery rauchbier, and I don't notice any benefits of wheat.
Aromatic intensity is below average. More intense smokiness and a more robust malt profile would really help.
No overt hop notes or yeast are/is detectable.
TASTE & TEXTURE: The first thing I notice is its dire overcarbonation; this is like carbonated water, replete with a fizzy sharpness on the palate and a prickly feel. Medium-bodied where it should be full-bodied, lacking sufficient heft and weight to support the flavour profile - which itself should be more sugary and robust.
The malt backbone is lackluster in large part due to the leavening wheat, which just plain doesn't belong. Apart from that, though, the sugars from the caramel and wood are nice, and the smokiness - the heart of the beer - works. It's not horribly deep or intricate, but the one-two punch of smoke and meat works wonders. It's not harsh or ashy, like many poor homebrew rauchbiere, and I find it well balanced for the most part.
The smoothness and wetness is more evidence of the tug towards the wheat beer side, and this would work better with more of a coarse and dry (or even rough) feel.
Not gestalt, and there's not a harmony of texture to taste, but it's well-executed in spite of its flaws.
OVERALL: Schlenkerla managed to pull off a hell of a rauchweiss, but Vakka-Suomen is not Schlenkerla, and just because the best producer of rauchbiere with hundreds of years of experience and tradition can do it doesn't mean you can. That said, this is a spirited inspired attempt, and has nice smokey attributes, but it won't impress the discerning drinker. Well-worth trying when in Finland, and a beer I'd buy again. But don't expect anything world-class or unique. If they could just drop the wheat beer characteristics, this would be vastly superior. Highly drinkable.
B-
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