Smoke and Ice
Freigeist Bierkultur

Pours a beautiful caramel color, minimal head. Surprisingly clear. Aroma is caramel and light smoke. Flavor is where the smoke takes over. I get a light caramel sweetness, but the smoke is pretty overwhelming. And it has a unique tart finish. Odd. Vague carbonation. Overall, an interesting beer. I could do without the smoke. And I am not sure when this was brewed / how old it is. Glad I tried one, but I will not be buying another.

5/4/26
11.2 oz bottle
3 rating

Tasted 1/19/25

L: ruddy auburn with an off-white head and pretty solid lacing. A bit murky, with visible sediment. Nice head retention, with a tiny layer of foam staying put on the top of the beer throughout.

A: cough syrup, some caramel and stewed fruits. Very bready. There is also a strong solvent chemical note that’s very difficult to get past. Seems somewhere between an English barleywine and a quad with more muted esters.

2 T: Not pleasant. Alcoholic, thin and very solventy with a hollow musky cardboard note. There are some hints of toffee, bread and dark fruits, but they’re very hollow and mild, and are quickly overshadowed by the less pleasant flavors. Deep into the finish between sips you’re left with an earthy bitterness mixed with glue. I was also expecting this to be quite a bit sweeter, but it comes across semi-dry, and that’s not a positive for a beer like this.

F: medium-plus body with low carbonation and a slight slickness on the mouthfeel.

O: I love all styles of beer but it was hard to take each sip without grimacing. I’m glad it tried it, and it’s good to have some reference points in the eisbock style, but this is simply not pleasant or well-structured.

Really excited to try this off previous reviews (in all seriousness!). Pours light, fairly translucent mahogany, light ring of head with minimal retention and lacing. Nose has a strong punch of raisin and dark fruit at the start that's pretty consistent with the style. However, the wood and smoke do give it a bit of an off character, though one easy to place once I knew what went into the beer. Taste, however, is a bit more...challenging. There's a strong dark fruit (maraschino cherries, plums, prunes, dates) up front, but the wood and smoke really takes over from there. There's a strong metallic quality to it, almost like water from dirty or rusted pipes. That's not good! Placing the smoke/wood character is pretty tough, but after some thought (and a side by side taste test) I find it most similar to Malort and its bitterness and mild spice. Mouthfeel is moderate with light, attenuated carbonation. I don't genuinely believe that this is a "likeable" beer, but it was an interesting one, and at least for me, not a drain pour.

 

 

 

This one pours a brilliant Burgundy tinged brown color. Cloudy, dirty, but not opaque. A very thin, weak, tan foamy head forms on the beer then disappears very quickly. Absolutely no residual head remains.

Aroma is unlike anything I have had before ... there are notes of dark rotting cherries, some berry like notes with a subtle smokiness to it ... but what really threw me for a loop was this sharp, chemical or medicinal aroma. I'm having a hard time describing it, but its like this harsh plastic or chemical aroma. Put it this way, my brain is responding to the aroma by saying that is not something you should be drinking.

But, in the name of science we must ignore the brain and drink it ... and, well ... its not as bad as I expected? I guess? In all seriousness, its not as bad as I expected. The flavors are kind of muddled together, but I get some smoke up front along with some malty, dark bread notes. There is an earthy nuttiness to the malts. There is a certain spiciness to the flavor profile - pepper, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon - all swirling across the palate. There are some medicinal cherry notes in there. Eventually this gives way to an oaky, woody, earthy character on the finish with a pronounced and somewhat surprising bitterness. Its a bit "hot" for a beer thats 10%, although that is more Its not as bad as I thought it was going to be based on the nose, but I also wouldn't go as far as saying its an enjoyable beer to drink.

The feel on this one is pretty thin but slick and oily. Lightly carbonated. The alcohol on this one produces a strong warming sensation as the beer is consumed.

Overall this is honestly a major disappointment. That unpleasant aroma was really hard to get past, and the flavor was not nearly good enough to make up for it. I've had some really good eisbocks before ... this is just not one of them.

The aroma is mellow overall, although what's there is of a potent nature: pretty whisky-like, with phenols that are as plastic/iodine as they are smoky, some husky malt underneath along with some nut butter.

Very much those same qualities on the palate, except a lot more explosive. Takes a while to acclimate. The malt quality smooths out after a few sips, getting nuttier and breadier. Sweet spice like nutmeg seems to be creeping around at the edges. The palate is rich and almost oily, alcohol is fairly well hidden, and it finishes with a good snap of bitterness and lingering toasted wood.

But through it all those phenols dominate, so you'd better like them. :wink: I'm wishing that the smoke was more dominant instead of this iodine/petroleum quality. In the end it's more challenging and interesting than truly enjoyable.