Smoke And Mirrors
Coal Harbour Brewing Company

Can: Poured a pitch-black porter with a large foamy brown head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of roasted malt with huge smoked malt notes is quite nice. Taste is a balance mix of smoked malt, some roasted malt with some black chocolate notes and dry finish. Body is full with nice creamy touch and some good carbonation. Super well balanced and world class smoked beer.

 

 

 

650ml bottle poured into a snifter.

Pitch black but not that completely black in color with a hint of very deep brown hue, it tops with a small frothy tan head that quickly dissipates to some bubble along the rim and leaves just slight to almost no lacing on the glass-side.

Big smokiness covers through the aroma, it is peaty, smoky, meaty, bacon, burnt wood, and bbq-like. Some roasted characters of coffee sourness and mild chocolate along with some caramel, biscuit, and dark bread. Licorice too as well as prominent dark fruits note of prune, plum, currant, and dark raisin.

The taste is still mainly dominated by its peaty and smoked characters of meaty, bacon, smoke, peat, and bbq. Then it is roasted coffee with some sourness together with mild chocolate and all the other malty flavors of caramel, biscuit, and dark bread before dark fruits and licorice taking over the palate with notes of prune, plum, currant, and dark raisin. Some bitterness too mainly from roasted malt.

Medium body, not that sticky as firstly expected but it is good enough to carry well all the things, the feeling is just right with moderate carbonation and dry finish.

Big smoke and bold roasted with a good touch of dark fruits character blending in creating some crisp and zest yet not too heavily or overly smoked.

Coal Harbour Brewing 'Smoke & Mirrors' @ 8.5% , served on tap GCBF'12 & cask GCBF'17 and a 650 ml bottle purchased for $10.50
A-pour is a dark cola brown from the bottle to a near black in the glass with a small thin tan head leaving a spotty lace along the pint
S-Imperial (enough said)
T-smokey start , bitter thru-out , smokey finish
MF-ok carbonation , big full bodied , feels heavy
Ov-maybe a good beer to cook with , so much smoke
prost LampertLand

 

650ml bottle bought in Victoria BC.

Dark chocolate brown, very opaque. Creamy chocolate brown head.

Aroma peaty with a bit of chocolate and metallic notes.

Taste starts with a nice prominent smoke and peat, but gives way to a kind of thin sourness with some sugar and moderate alcohol flavour. Occasional metallic / iron aftertaste. After a few sips the smoke and peat gives way to predominantly sour notes. Not a lot of body.

I'd give it a three but for the price. At $9 for a bomber the bang for your buck factor is very low with this beer. Regardless of price I will not bother with this one again.

I prefer a more umami taste to this style of beer so I may simply not jive with the sweet & sour notes it presents.

A very interesting flavor. Unlike any other I have had. Which is fitting, since this beer is more expensive than most. I can definitely taste the smokiness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smoke and Mirrors pours a inky black, so dark that no light passes through. The head fades quickly, but it was a great creamy milk chocolate color. Sweet caramel, chocolate and smoke fill the aroma. It smells like peat smoke, according to the label it's both peat and rauch malt. Peat smoked malt dominates the flavor, but there is plenty of sweet caramel and chocolate. I would liken it to an imperial stout with a smokiness instead of the roasted flavor. Caramel and chocolate join the smokiness in the finish. The mouthfeel is a bit towards the thin side, and there is a bit of lingering smoke.

I think the blend of peat smoked and rauch malt is very well done, there is a great Islay whisky smokiness without the harshness that I understand can come with peat smoked malt.