Rauchbier
Lunar Brewing

 

Served in a shaker pint glass at the brewpub.

First beer during my first visit to Lunar. It pours a clear copper-amber topped by a bit more than a finger of cream-colored foam. The nose comprises smoky barbecue pork, caramel, wheat, smoked wood, and a light hint of cherry. The taste holds notes of light charcoal, rye bread, caramel, light earthy hops, and straight-up wood chips. The body is a light medium, with a moderate carbonation and a fairly dry finish. Overall, a solid rauch that kept me coming back for more, baby.

Served in a pint glass at Lunar

This beer pours a reddish orange color with a decent head on it. The smell is mainly of peat smoked malts and perhaps some pepper. The taste is the real interesting part. Due to the smoke it seems to me to taste quite similar to smoked salmon. I know that may not sound pleasant to many, but to me it is a dead on description of the beer. The mouth feel has the right viscosity for the beer and if it hadn't been for the overpowering smoke (which I understand was intentional) it would have been a really good beer. As it stands it is a testament to it's style.

Reviewing from 10-8-10 notes.

The color is a copper, beige and bronze, with a nice tan head.

The aroma is an obvious smoked, and toastd malt aroma of caramel and rye bread. The smoke also adds a hint bacon that I like.

That same hint of bacon in the aroma transfers to the tastebuds as well. At first, you get smoked peet, toasted caramel bready malts. After the swallow, I notice some very faint BBQ flavors. But mostly bacon. Not in any overwhelming, disgusting or cloying way. Just a little good smokey bacon along with with my beer.

This was a very easy to drink rauch for me. Especially considering my bias towards almost anything made by Aecht Schlenkerla.

I hope Lunar puts this beer into a roating release at least.

I was happy to see this one on tap during my latest visit to the Lunar. Served in a standard pint, the beer is a metallic brown with a clingy beige head.

The smoke is evident in the aroma. There are also lightly roasted malts and some fruity notes, but the smoke is the thing here.

The taste is good. Wood smoke with grains, red apple, and slight bitterness at the finish. The smoked malts are the real deal here. They are not overpowering but really complement the beer.

The beer has great midlevel carbonation. Overall this is an easy drinking beer. I would love to have this with some summer sausage or bbq.

(Served in an American pint glass)
A- This beer pours a clear brown iced tea color with a creamy light tan head and a gentle carbonation.
S- The soft smooth smoke of beechwood has a light hint of fresh cigar and bacon note.
T- The mellow smoky flavor doesn't have any band-aid qualities. There is a strong berry quality to the smoky flavor that has other fruity notes to it. There is a clean finish with a light smoky note that lingers. There is a light dry bacon hint to the finish as it grows.
M- There is a light mouthfeel with a crisp finish.
D- This beer has a nice full beechwood smoke that is very mellow and is supported by some soft malt notes underneath. There is an odd berry fruity quality that grows as the beer warms. It is pretty tasty and has a good balance of smoke and other malt flavors.