Gegen den Strom Zerbster Bitterbier
Against The Grain Brewery

16oz can into a pint glass. Canned 12/13/18, so 5 1/2 years old. This should be interesting.....

Decent enough look. Medium brown body. Off white covering of a head, rings of lacing. Aroma is malty and faintly medicinal, but not unpleasant. On tasting, malty, sweet, faintly smoky, and age has added a touch of rubber. Mouth is medium, finish somewhat bitter. Abv is apparent.

Every now and then, I grab an obscure style beer of the shelves, mostly out of curiosity. Overall, this is not an unpleasant beer, but very odd.

This is an obscure historical style brewed by some oddball brewers from both sides of the pond. Should be a good time...

Well well well, this is as odd and interesting brew.
The dark amber liquid has a straight cumulonimbus of cappuccino foam riding up top. It's got a strong resemblance to the missouri style, vinneagar heavy bbq sauce that ends up being a bit of a theme with this thang.
As I draw this legit rheinheitsgaboot lookin ass drink to my lips I am hit with a ruthlessly sharp smokey aroma, it's got way lots of caramel notes too, almost like a smoked gramma candy dipped in that vinnegary sweet KC bbq sauce.
And if you were into that smell, well then the taste didn't disappoint. Sharp smokey pork and campfire flavors sit on top of the hearty amber malt body that undergirds this thing. There's lots of talk of the levels of hops used in this brew but it's presence is probably contributing some of the sharpness and earthy/herbal bbq like notes in the flavor.
The body on this brew is pleasantly thin and crisp like a refreshing pork shoulder seltzer
I don't know, I guess these ancient germans really really liked their smoked pork. So much so that they couldn't help but put it in their favorite beverage as well. I've had a few bbq beers but this is probably the porkiest (classic AtG flavor profile) of any of them. Can't hurt to check it out, it's definitely different, and it does grow on you in it's own way. But be ready for a smokey pork bomb
*note that my rating is attempting to be to style, it's clearly supposed to be smokey and all that, but I didn't like this beer*

16 oz can.
Slightly hazy dark amber body with a tall beige head.
Moderately smokey, light enough to allow hops and dark malts to show.
Medium body with medium carbonation.

Pours into a becker a deep amber/brown with a thinner but well sustained off white head atop.Big caramel and nutty malts in the nose with underlying smoke and spicy German hops,a nice mix.Caramel at the onset of the palate followed by hardwood smoke and a slight medicinal note and earthy/spicy hops in the finish.This unlike any smoked or Rauchbier I've had,a bigger hop profile along with a hefty caramel sweetness.Different...In a good way.

 

 

The seCANd half of Sunday's Happy New Against the Saugatuck Grain Beer Sunday (Week 699) left me with several more CANs to be added to The CANQuest (tm). Once I CANplete their reviews & ratings, they will become an entry in the current WBAYDN thread.

From the CAN: "Gegen den Strom [Against the Stream] A Project of Tradition"; "An Against the Grain & Freigeist [Free Spirit] Brewery Collaboration"; "Zerbster Bitterbier[:] A Traditional German Style Smoked Beer"; "Art & design by robbydavis.com"; "EXTRA! EXTRA!"; Louisville, Kentucky, USA"; "An Unconventional Pair"; "Somewhere between 'I don't wanna be a chicken' and 'I don't wanna be a duck' Smoke and Hop lock eyes. Gallivanting across the dance floor Smoke meets Hop and they shake their butts. Their traditional nature separates them, but infatuation keeps them together. So, they spice things up and share a boot of this smoked beer over a special sausage. Prost!"

Since the verbiage indicated that a boot was the appropriate drinking vessel, I decided to pull out my 0.5L boot that I procured many years ago for just such an ocCANsion. I Crack!ed open the vent on the CAN & beCAN a slow, gentle Glug into the awaiting boot/glass. I had not poured into this vessel for a while & so I forgot about it filling the toe until I got a sudden "BLOOP!" and the glass filled with three-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, deep-tan/light-brown head with good retention that left loads of lacing in its wake. Color was a gorgeous Deep Amber/Light Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17) with NE-quality clarity, reminiscent of an old flame's hair color. Nose was smoky, but not as intense as I had hoped. I am one of those rare Amerikaners who actually likes Rauchbiers. It was subtle, like being fairly far downwind of a campfire, having the smoke waft past without getting the full experience. I raised the boot to my lips and took my first draught. Mouthfeel was medium, approaching fullness without achieving it. The taste was surprisingly bitter with a greater smokiness than I had sensed from the nose. It was still not full-on raging campfire, but it was much less subtle than the nose had led me to expect. I now found myself wondering if I should have had something smoked to go with it, like their mention of a special sausage or smoked cheese or smoked oysters, but it would have been gilding the lily & might have thrown off my perception of the beer's inherent smokiness. I found myself licking my lips & reflecting on it after each sip. I do not often taste beers of this complexity so it was a special ocCANsion, to be sure! I especially liked the way that they were not afraid to allow the 55 IBUs to assert themselves since it had a dry, smoky, bitter finish that lingered well past the swallow. Following the halfway mark, I found myself wishing for that "special sausage" or a smoked snack of some stripe, but I definitely would not have wanted it early on. This was a savory beer to be savored. Yum!

 

Zerbster Bitterbier looks how one might even think it should. A slightly muddled copper orange, smooth and even rich looking, with a frothy egg shell white pillow on top. Splotches form and make themselves comfortable on their temporary glass home, from top to bottom.

The smoke is most noticeable, however not intense as you might expect. More like the remaining campfire ash the next morning. A good Munich malt like caramel sweetness adds some depth to the bready notes, and it finishes with a sprinkle of spicy hop life. Being described as a "Smoked IPA", I figured there to be a much healthier dosing of our floral friends.

The flavors are even more subtle, but really work very well together. Mostly malt driven, caramel drizzled biscuits are flash grilled over some open wood fire pit, then sprinkled with black pepper. As the flavors fade, the after taste sheds a lingering earthy soak.

The silky smooth texture is quite nice. It is much easier to drink than its looks would imply thanks to a soft carbonation and a really great balance. The slow process from sweet to smokey to bitter happens like watching the barbecue needle rise to temperature. The only indication of his being an IPA is that long lasting hop induced bite.

My cup o' tea right here. It actually tastes, smells, and feels "German" made. A hard task to pull off in my opinion. This was a real pleasure to drink. I will definitely attempt to pick up a few more cans. Prost!