Wilbur
Fort Hill Brewery

 

 

 

From the can, it pours a coppery amber with a modest off-white head that stays about a half inch. In the nose, it is a bit smoky. In the mouth, it is the same: smoky and a touch malty. Mouth feel is smooth and silky.

A- Can into a snifter with a clear pale golden body and a one finger foamy white cap. Decent head retention as the cap falls to just a small ring. Lacing is rare spottiness.

S- A medium smokiness on the nose is certainly the dominant aroma as is true to the style. Bacon and slight campfire come to mind with honey, clove, bread, pale barley mash and a bit of ham smoke.

T- Again the smoked malts run the show with the woody aspect of that coming out more and then the ham, fire and bacon becoming secondary. More rounded out with the rest of the malts with bread, honey, toastiness, clove and pale mashed barley. A light-medium sweetness in the finish.

MF- Creamy and frothy light body with a high end carbonation. A bit of a slickness and a smoky bitterness throughout.

An easy drinking brew centered around smoked malts with other light and toasty malt flavors supporting that.

 

Appearance: Pours a fairly clear golden color and wears a one inch cap; dotty lacing

Smell: Smoke and clove tones waft above the bready malt

Taste: Smoke and clove tones intermingle with the bready malt base; the phenols linger into the finish which is otherwise pretty clean

Mouthfeel: Light to medium body with crisp carbonation

Overall: You don't come across this style very often; nicely executed

Thanks, Nichols33, for the opportunity

 

Hazy gold in appearance. Aroma brings some cured meats and a touch of honey. Flavor brings some bacon like meat flavor and smoke - while easily noticeable it's still mild. I would like the smoke level to be amped up considerably. Mouthfeel is on the thin side, carbonation is mild. Overall, it's enjoyable enough and pairs well with an array of food. But it's not as smokey as Shlenkerla (by a long shot) and isn't as good as Jack's Abby Fire in The Ham. However, Fire in the Ham isn't available year round. This could be a sufficient enough stand in, but I'd like for it be better.

Can to mug, the appearance was a straw yellow color with a touch of transparency about it. Finger’s worth of white foamy head sat atop and fled at a mild pace. Not much lace. The aroma had some sweet to smoky meaty portions, somewhat like ham but not too much. Light grassy hops and a little bit of earthiness slide in underneath. The flavor was somewhat sweet and smoky with a little bit of sweet nuts coming in underneath. Aftertaste was there - slightly smoky and sweet. Finish was abrupt and smoky sweet. The palate was between light and medium bodied with a fair sessionability about it. Good carbonation and the ABV felt fine. Pretty smooth along my tongue. Overall, pretty nice smoked beer but I don't see it as a true "rauchbier."

 

 

Canned on 4/21/17; drank on 5/7/17 in a tulip glass; upon pouring this beer, my conceptions of rauchbiers were immediately tested; this is not an amber or dark beer, but a golden pale lager; the smokiness does not dominate at all but remains balanced

 

 

So, I think this is actually sort of a duplicate entry of their Rauchbier currently on BA, given the identical ABV listing... however, reading the reviews (even by the bros!) I'm left feeling like they changed some things big time. The reviews that are currently live for their rauch indicate that it's a darker beer, and this is by no means dark. Not sure if it's just a coincidence or what, but Wilbur is a canned 12 oz. offering I picked up a single of at Craft Beer Cellar Westford a few days ago.

Pours a light-medium golden color with a solid head measuring about two fingers, eventually sinking down to a single finger with some solid legs. Very hazy body with an intensely crowded surface. Coagulated foam sits covering almost the entirety of the top of this beer.

Nose kind of plays between smoke and clove-like phenols, giving off campfire notes as quickly and irreverently as it throws out bready malt, clean yeast and very light esters. Definitely a lighter-colored Bamberg-style rauchbier, though I can detect some estery-ness going on here. This is pretty clean-cut, though, overall. I like the moderate smoke aspect it has, and it has a very traditional beechwood aspect to it that reminds me of some excellent rauchbiers I've had in the past.

Flavor is that of a lean Helles lager with medium smoke intensity focused mostly on the front-end, somewhat deteriorating by the mid-palate and continuing slightly into the finish. Campfire smoke, light bacon notes, bready malt, Noble hops, some clove-like spice and earthy elements combine to make this pretty satisfying. It is definitely a Helles lager base, so it doesn't have quite the caramel depth that some other US/NE rauchbiers have, but I really like it for what it is.

Feel is rather light and springy with a deft carbonation and quickly-dissipating malty/smoky finish on the palate. Body is light-leaning and subtle. Reminds me a bit of Jack's Abby's Fire in the Ham, if we're going to make stylistic and local comparisons. Slightly under par compared to something like Great North Aleworks' Smokin', but that's probably because I prefer darker rauchs. Your mileage may vary. This is an excellent Helles rauchbier, regardless of how I personally feel. It is well-made, very clean and easily-quaffable. I recommend it. So far, Fort Hill is two-for-two in my books!