Bo & Luke (Lapsang Souchong Tea)
Against The Grain Brewery & Smokehouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured a deep black hue with a thin brown head that kept a reasonable thickness.

The nose is smokey, ashy, coal like, phenolic, extinguished embers and a burnt tire that is almost offensive.

This tastes like a Rauschbier with a savory smoked pork rib flavor, bacon, meat and smoke. I catch no tea or malt but quite a bit of smoked meat and just plain smoke.

This is savory, smooth and thick but leaves a dry, ashy feel on the tongue that may have affected my overall palate this night.

I'm a huge fan of Bo and Luke and the other variants but this just didn't work for me.

 

Variants. Of course there are variants. Why would there not be variants. I mean, all the cool kids are doing it so here we go. The brewers at Against the Grain garner the distinct pleasure to age their Imperial Smoked Stout on Lapsang Souchong tea for a herbal and earthen turn to left field

As dark as ever, the addition of the original black tea makes hardly a mark on the original Bo & Luke- it's abyss-black pour was simply expected. As its fine bubbles calder from below, they rise to form a frothy mocha head, full of tightly woven bubbles- all complementing the beer's durable retention and scattered lace.

The aromas of the smoky beer rub all over that of the smoky tea to heighten the manly perfume of campfire, roasting embers, cocoa, bold roast coffee, and charred fruit- currants, grapes and berries with scents of lit cigars, peated whisky and mesquite. Supporting burnt caramel is dry and doesn't compete with the beer's ashy tone.

Its burnt sweetness is carbon-rich while hearty black-strap molasses, espresso, and bitter chocolate quickly turn to the strong taste of smoked meat, charcoal, and roasted fruit. Grilled berries, currants, plumbs, figs, and grapes weave into scotch and vine flavors and are then further complemented with wood-ash bitterness that extends with bourbon-like alcohol sweetness, vanilla, coconut and tobacco

Incredibly, the beer rests upon its robust malt body that facilitates early smoky-sweetness with creamy and arid texture. But as the beer extends into middle palate it dries and turns ashy and dry. Alas, the finish comes firm roast, chalk and wood spice.

Where the tea often gets lost in all the utter complexity of the Bo & Luke, it brings a higher smoke, dryness and tobacco character that even that of the original. If cigars, scotch and barbecue are your thing- the this Lapsang Souchong tea thing is for you!