Yes, it was Derek Prentice's description of how they did it that I was thinking of. But I got the impression that that was the dying days of it.
Derek started at Truman in 1968. They may have stopped blending Barley Wine when Truman's Burton brewery closed in the early 1970s.
Becker Brewing in Brighton MI has made many historic brews that I have enjoyed. Those have varied from Ron Pattinson's recipes to Martin Gorshal's Norwegen farmhouse ale recipes. Other breweries in the area have made a few also. I've homebrewed a few over the years. Learned to make invert sugar too The last several weeks I've been in Franconia. Amidst the Helles tsunami here, you can find a few beers that are rustic in character and have great flavor. Those are often the breweries Kellerbier. Matthias Trump has released Brewery Graser beers, based on his ancestor Kontad Graser's recipes. Of course there is a Helles. The Pilsner has pronounced hop flavor unlike others in Franconia. The Kellerbier is the one I've had the most of, it has great malt flavor.
Archival Brewing's The Duke Says Nein Kottbusser, a historical German wheat ale with pilsner malt, wheat, flaked oats and honey per a recipe I found online.. Archival is located just north of Grand Rapids, and I had this beer when I visited there a year ago. I liked it then but didn't buy any to take home because I wouldn't be home for a couple more days. I saw this at one of my local stores yesterday so I grabbed a sixer.
It is hard to say if I enjoy historical beer styles as a lot of them has been recently recreated, and still have a lot of flaws etc. In polish community I would have been eaten alive if I said that I don't like "grodziskie" beer, but I simply don't. If I want to drink smoked beer I take something from Schlenkerla (I love that shit), and "grodziskie" tastes like burnt electic cables to me... Something like peat whisky.
The general "Polish community" either likes burnt electric cables or your taste buds are different, which we all know is likely the case. The grodziskies in Poland are likely to be closer to authentic to historical tastes than what we get here that are brewed by American brewers. I haven't had many, but I've liked what I had. It's good that you probably have access to more variety of smoked beers, so enjoy them. I'm jealous.
