Johnny Hanson Punk Rauch
Pax Bräu

WOW, all I can taste is smoke. Not sure if it's beer or liquid smoke.

Johnny Hanson Punk Rauch, "Oak aged Rauchbier."
It's the September edition from the Bierkalender, and I'd planned on reviewing it a month ago while the "smoke em while you got em" was being discussed, as well as the various discussions of Rauchbier, but I never got around to it. Thank god my girlfriend can't stand the smokiness of this beer, which leaves it all for me! I drank one bottle a month ago and saved it to age another month to see what would happen.

First, a bit of background on this beer. This is from the Bierkalender.

Translated by me from German:
"In June, 2013 the talented and extremely nice drummer of the Canadian cult band No Means No, Mr. John Wright, visited me. This doesn't, however, make good music; he has also been brewing beer as a hobby for over 20 years. John is a big Rauchbier fan and took a look around my brewery to find out how Rauchbier is brewed in Franken. With the extra knowledge (which he gleaned here), he proceeded directly back to Quebec to Brauerei LeTrouDuDiable to produce his own self-knitted (sic) JHPR in bigger quantities. We had decided to to make this recipe for Le Trou as well as by me. According to his recipe, the beer should have, among other things, Pils, Münchner and Rauch malts. For hops, Crystal and Mt. Hood. All that will be soaked in Burbon Whiskey oak chips. I'm again really excited to see will come out of this..."
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So, now that you know the ingredients and how it was made, I just need to tell you what it tastes like.

Appearance: Brown mostly, darkish with hints of amber, orange and red under a dirty tan head that fell after a good 60 seconds. It's clear and though dark, translucent.

Aroma: Smoke, smoke and more smoked oak as well as hints hints of caramel and Pils malt.

Flavor:

Front: The first thing I notice is a slight tanginess... Pils malts... then roasted, BBQed meat flavor, and a slight bitterness under that and mixed with a sweet sugary and caramel flavor, and a bit of citrus over top.

Middle: Oh wow, smoked flavors, a little bacon, but more BBQed Roast Beef, and lots of it. I feel like my mouth has been been invited to a Texas BBQ with umami and smoked meats everywhere. The Pils and Münchner malts are equally evident in the sweet caramel and tartness rounding out the Spare Ribs and Brisket flavors. God this is good. My tongue is floating in heaven and doesn't want to these flavor explosions to end. You get a real feeling that a Märzen is hiding behind this beer, but one that was soaked for a week in Roast Beef, Honey-Spare Ribs and Brisket.

Back: Oh my... oh wow, more of the Märzen soaked BBQ, but here it's smokier, tangier, a little more bacon flavor returning from the Rauch malt, and some mandarin orange and a burnt, roasted malt flavor. It just goes on and on, but it's not as good as what was going on in the middle of the tongue.

Aftertaste: Burnt flavor, umami from honey-soaked spare ribs and a tartness that lingers.

Mouthfeel: I love how it feels like a blanket sliding around my mouth, luscious, indulgent, thick and hearty, but not too much. It's got enough thinness and tartness (Pils malt) to offset the thick, featherbed-like feeling to make it hit the perfect goldilocks zone that the best Märzen also reaches.

Overall: Fantastic, WOW, double WOW, triple WOW... maybe the second best year I've had from Pax this year (The Smaragd Pilsner takes that honor, so far.) You really feel a Texas BBQ has camped out on your tongue with caramel, some tartness and little mandarin oranges dancing together around the meat. The traditional Rauchbier bacon is nice compliment, but really, though it doesn't play the main role, it's lurking around to mix and pounce when you go looking for it under the BBQ. All those flavors make you sit up and wonder how they co-exist so sublimely.