Beechwood Rauchbier
Templin Family Brewing

 

 

As far as Rauchbiers, this one is extremely well done. While it's smoky and toasty on the nose, the taste is a little less smoke, more toasty. Even folks who I've shared this with that don't like Rauchbiers, love this one. Very approachable

these guys do so many things well, and this is precisely the kind of beer that their technical expertise, attention to detail, thoughtful ingredient sourcing, and overall legend status make me eager to drink, i was pumped to see this one. i love smoked beer, especially in the german tradition, and they really captured the essence of the style with this. deep copper to light amber in color, impressively clear, and very high headed from the tap, this looks well refined and perfect for autumn. the nose on it shows the earthy but not overly intense smoke profile of this beechwood malt, less intense than cherrywood or alderwood ever seem to be for this purpose, and without that iodine and peat character some of these present with. great balance right away between long cooked malt richness, drying old world lager yeast characteristics, a baked breadiness, a sweet nutty aspect, and the campfire smoke character billowing through it, nice minerality and cleanness, and the flavor matches the aroma. hints of chestnut, acorn, and fallen leaves to me, the smoke casts heavy fall vibes but never dominates the flavor mix. a sweetness rather than anything bitter or acrid from it, an obvious woodiness here too to me. patient and cool fermentation seems apparent, the water chemistry is dialed, and this finishes with just a little maple and brown sugar linger to offset the smoke presence on the swallow. lighter in body than it looks, quite light for this level of flavor saturation, and super drinkable thanks to the crisp back end and the high amount of tiny bubbles of carbonation. i could drink this all day, not true of a lot of smoke beers no matter who you are. expertly refined, as good as i knew it would be. if they dont package this, they should next fall!

draught
Light orange and some and some chestnut colors. Lots of lacing, all down the sides of the glass. Very on the spot, Bavarian (Bamberg) style , beechwood smoke aroma. This is a lighter version and the smokiness is appropriately more modest, in order not to overwhelm the more subtle beer here. There is of course some malt, in this case a light toasted type, to fatten things up. Oh well, the taste doesn't match the aroma. A light, slightly bright and effervescent beer with a tiny smoke tinge, and is OK.

 

 

2021-08-20
~250ml "snyt" pour in a stange glass (I wanted a sample, that was the recommendation). On tap at the brewery in SLC.

Served with a huge head. Dark amber, clear, lots of carbonation. Head collapses into a rocky mountain range. Smell is super smokey, wood chips, if I concentrate I get some bready sweetness.

Taste is smoke and sweetness. The smoke is powerful and expansive, but not overpowering. Balanced nicely by the strong bready sweetness. A little bit of nutty bitterness on the back end.

Mouthfeel is a little thick, kind of sticky, which works pretty well with the flavor. Overall, this is a quite good rauchbier, and not being a rauchbier fanboy, I really enjoyed it.