Smoke Signals
Fonta Flora Brewery

 

Sample at Mikkeller Beer Celebration Copenhagen 2018, Blue Session. Aroma has herbal menthol notes and some liquorice. Taste is tart and dry with the same medicinal menthol notes from the aroma.

Fonta.Fonta. Fonta. Fonta!!!!

 

 

Bringing the flavor combination of smoke and sour back from the past kicking and screaming, this old world taste was once one of necessity, but since we've learned to separate the flavors in beer, most brewers are content to leave this marriage clearly in the past. But not Fonta Flora.

Their Smoke Signals pours a surprisingly light gold color, equipped with a glowing haze before the uncharacteristic wafts of hickory, mesquite and citrus begin to flood the nose. Pungently earthy, crisply citrus-like and robust with a smoky perfume, the fragrant scent of birch comes shining through. A light toasty, bready and sweet taste decorate the tongue ahead of the sour brunt to follow.

And as the malt influence subsides, the sour taste comes charging in with lime, lemon, orange peel, grapefruit peel, gooseberry, crabapple and kiwi. Tangy, tart and softly sour, the beer's bright taste and tingling carbonation offers a bright taste that nearly makes you forget the smoke. But as the fruit and sourness simmer on the tongue, the broad wafts of campfire and mesquite roll back into the flavor fray from a retro olfactory perspective.

Light on bitterness and full of brine, the beer's light salinity brings a boldness to the fruit and smoke that offers a savory and acidic character that begs for an accompaniment of smoked fish or chicken rather than a sit-alone beer. Sourness and fruit flavors subside quickly but the overcast of smoke lasts persistently deep into aftertaste.

It's interesting that no actual rye was used in this because that's what I get a lot of in both the nose and taste. Wonderfully complex for 2.8%, good mix of herbal notes and tartness.