Smoked Beers

But blending it would just make sense. A brewer could try two lighter styles, then blend the two in a scotch barrel or find a way to blend the scotch in with it. My way would take a malty amber and a dry stout, then blend the two and get something like JW double black would probably all blend together nicely in a bottle. This is due to my lack of having a scotch/bourbon barrel on hand.

 

Sorry. We seem to be miscommunicating. "Scotch ales" have nothing to do with Scotch whisky. They are strong ales and named as such due to place of origin (originally) rather than barrel aging. Brewers outside of Scotland sometimes use peated malt in them for smoke flavor (due to the characteristics and existence of certain Scotch whisky). It can be confusing.

 

Oh, you mean wee heavy! I got it now, I like a lot of things aged in scotch or bourbon whisky barrels. ESB or strong ales is what I was getting confused with the separation. Yes the peat malt leads to smoky and darker characteristics to it which mimic a scotch or bourbon, that is for sure! But then again you cannot go wrong with any of these flavor combinations!

 

Yes, Scotch Ale and Wee Heavy are basically the name of the same thing.

I've had the smoky flavor in a Wee Heavy that was reminicent of a malt whisky, but similar to bourbon? Which bourbon has the smoky character of peat smoke? I'd be interested in trying that one, being a big fan of the peat smoke character in some malt whiskies. Thanks.

 

Which is why my taste buds go to the magical land of flavor town with these flavors! It does make sense that these all lead to one flavor town!

However these mentions of all the flavors in these heavier ales, smoke would be a welcome addition!

 

https://untappd.com/b/boston-beer-company-samuel-adams-smoked-lager/2422051

Speaking of which, I blended this and M43 last summer. This was a quality mixture.

 

You do know that I was speaking of the USS John McCain cap?

 

I had no idea that you were, who posted the mezcal stuff?

 

Another quality "smoky" scotch ale is https://untappd.com/b/arcadia-brewing-company-loch-down-scotch-ale/20969

 

The character of Rauchbier in Bamberg is different from the beer once it reaches the US. Very clean in Bamberg, meaty in the US.

Here is my analogy.

Clean campfire smoke from seasoned hardwood. Think of a good BBQ brisket, fresh off the smoker. (Now I want some Franklin Brisket).

The phenol responsible for the smoke flavor readily oxidizes. Then it gets different flavors, such as bacon and ham, that people talk about. Smoke cured hams can be aged for months.

I have had conversations with Grand Master beer judges that didn't like Rauchbier, then went to Bamberg and changed their minds. They noted the lack of meaty flavors, just clean campfire aroma plus clean smoke flavor.

 

Imo, the draught Schlenkerla beers are pretty damn fresh tasting so maybe those who are interested should try it in that form initially, if they can. It would definitely save on air fare, too.

A side benefit of these beers being more popular these days is that I am now running across bottles that taste as good as the draught does.

Not that there aren't old ones laying around as well, but overall things are looking up. The only ones that have been really old and rough tasting to me are the Eiche bottles when they reach about 6 months; the others tend to age more gracefully.

 

The draft is close. Several years back I had been at Schlenkerla bin Bamberg. Two weeks later I was in the Map Room in Chicago, a well known beer bar. They had just tapped a keg of the Märzen, it was pretty good, but not as good. My wife commented that it was showing some initial signs of age, without being asked.

Edit - maybe the kegs are getting here fresher now. I would like to repeat my experience, for science. More data points are better.

 

Funny you should say that, that's been my experience with the Eiche as well. Although I'm unaware of the age of any bottles, so clearly can't really say, but that's the one that seemed less forgiving (barring the problematic Krausen can I had).

The only time I had the Marzen and found it to be very hoppy was on draught. Could have been a coincidence or my palate that day, but it made me wonder if other developing flavors were getting in the way of the hops on other occasions (and if this was the freshest keg I've ever had barring being in Germany). One time, I picked up a bottle of the Marzen while in Belgium with the intention of bringing it back to the US to have side by side with a bottle that had to go through the Atlantic voyage the normal way. Obviously not apples to apples due to whatever ages they were (and I'm only going off shaky memory here), but I found it difficult to find much to distinguish them (I did prefer the one I carried over slightly more).