Rauchbier
New Paltz Brewing Company (Pfälzerbräu)

 

 

Poured from 22 oz bottle into pint glass.

A: Very clear golden orange with 2-3 finger soapy white head with nice retention and leaving some light lacing.

S: Campfire smoke and peat mixed with honey, caramel, and biscuit malts.

T: Biscuit malts highlighted by honey and caramel. Light smokey notes that complement that malt bill.

M: Medium body with average carbonation. Finish is clean and crisp.

O: Excellent smoked lager. Just a touch sweeter than its peers, but highly drinkable and enjoyable.

 

 

Sizzles as it foams up close to three fingers of very airy, agitated off-white foam, reduces down to a solid surface coating yet with close to zero lacing, no stickiness at all. Bright orange rust to copper color, spotless and shiny, filled with hyperactive bubbles from side to side. The nose is pungently smoky, not in acrid “something is burning” manner but more like a slow roast plus it pulls back enough to display peach, apricot, apple fruit scents and crackers, baked pie dough, a few tar notes, smells as pure and clean as it looks. Medium-bodied, not soft but all that carbonation gives it a creaminess which helps contrast the more focused and direct smokiness. The latter is on the sweet side and has more of a delicate lift than brute power. Here too the fruitiness shines through, plenty of apricot, apple, white grape flavor. Grains and breadiness in support, you get charcoal, tar and quinine at the end, especially retronasally. While it strikes one as sweeter than the norm for the beer category, all together comes off as balanced and integrated, high level of drinkability for a smoked beer.