Smoked Beer Appreciation Thread (2023)

I really enjoy the Human Robot smoked beer.

Need to stop by and see if they have cans.

Enjoy

 

Basil Haydens recently added a new bourbon, "Toast," to their portfolio, which has a secondary finishing in charred oak. It's a subtle touch though.

Balcones Brimstone used Texas scrub oak for a whisky with really intense campfire smoke, but it might be too strong for some tastes.

Burning Chair Bourbon is a wonderful meld of smoke and char with the sweetness of bourbon finished in Napa cabernet wine barrels. An excellent and very American blending of flavors. If you like smoked spirits you really should find this.

 

I intended to reply/comment that I thought the whisky had to be aged in new oak barrels to be a Bourbon but a quick web search found:

“Cask: New American oak then finished in cabernet barrels”

I don’t think I ever drank a Bourbon that was finished with a barrel that contained something else (wine in this case). Sounds quite intriguing.

Thanks for the tips!

Cheers!

 

So what is the difference between a "Rauchbier" and a "Smoked Beer" as defined in the Style listing? It seems to me that they are describing the same thing.

 

Maybe... Personally, Balcones Brimstone was too one-note campfire for me. Not enough other flavors to round it out. That said, I bet a skilled bartender could use it to make some amazing smoky mixed drinks [without the gimmick of piping smoke into the drink].

 

For all likely practical purposes, they are the same thing. Rauchbier is the German word to describe this 'style' and these beers use smoked malt to attain their smoky flavor.

I suppose that a beer that is given a smoky taste by some method such as infusion, it should be called a smoked beer, but I don't know of any examples where this is done, or even if it is practicable.

 

I'm going to add to @PapaGoose03 's post above to explain why I believe there are both categories on BA (plus smoked porter). A Rauchbier is a "smoked beer," but it would be culturally strange to call an American IPA made with peat smoked malt a "Rauchbier" - a term German brewers use to market their lagers made with their smoked malt. The Rauchbier category on BA would be ideally used to place beers made to resemble the German beers marketed with that term - which are relatively iconic today. Beers that don't fit that mold would ideally be placed in the less culturally specific "smoked beer" category (which would be wide open to any beer made with smoked malt).

The Rauchbier description on BA is a bit misleading though. In the distant past, smoky beers would have been produced outside of Bamberg, and none of the beers would have been called Rauchbier. It's also worth mentioning that their association with Bamberg is only because a small handful of breweries there continued to make malt using wood fire in way that exposed the grain to smoke after most breweries discontinued that process of malt making.

 

So basically "Rauchbier" is a subset of "Smoked beers" then.

 

I think that's just one way you can look at it, but personally, I wouldn't put too much weight on the idea that this is a holistic interconnected system rather than a loose collection.

 

To further expound upon what Chris posted above: "Rauchbier" - a term German brewers use to market their lagers made with their smoked malt.”

If a brewer were to produce an ale using smoked malt as part of the grain bill it would not be proper to brand that beer as a Rauchbier.

Cheers!

 

There are two breweries that kiln their malt over a Beechwood fire, Schlenkerla and Spezial. Most of thier beers they make uses that smokey malt, with a couple of exceptions.

Recently Klosterbräu added a Rauchbier, but I don't think they malt any barley. Thier other beers aren't smokey.

Greifenklau has a seasonal Rauchbier.

Others that I know of with seasonals are Drei Kronnen in Memmelsdorf and Göller in Zeil an Main. There may be others in the area. My guess is that they go to Weyermann and buy Weyermann's Rauchmalz.

I will be getting my fill of Rauchbier in September.

 

Yeah sorry, I should’ve clarified, I was talking about smoky elements in the cocktails such as mezcal and the like. Sometimes the drinks will be presented smoking for some extra flair but it rarely adds much to it

 

I remember during the BA Lagerfest a couple of years ago the brewer for Wolf's Ridge said that the smoke quality and potency of the malt really diminishes quickly, and that they have theirs smoked locally instead of buying it from a company like Weyermann. There's got to be something to that because their Buchenrauch was clearly the best smoked beer I've had from an American brewer.

Also, the same applies to other favorites like Schlenkerla, natch, and Alaskan, who have alder smoked malt made specially for them.

 

That is indeed the reputation as regards smoked malt.

I have ordered Weyermann Smoked Malt a few times from an online vendor, who I presume as quick turnover, and so far I have lucked out in obtaining 'good' product. I will once again be ordering some smoked malt for an upcoming batch of a beer I brand as Smoky & Spicy Brown Ale (part of the grain bill is Weyermann Smoked Malt and Rye Malt) and I will have my fingers crossed that the Smoked Malt will once again be fresh.

Cheers!

 

Smoked and rye- sounds incredible!

 

l

It is a tasty beer. My most popular beer I brew for some of my friends is my Oatmeal Stout (I will be re-brewing a batch next month) but recently some of them have stated: "You know, I think I like your Smoky & Spicy Brown Ale better". I keep the smoke level to a noticeable but not 'in your face' level which I suspect makes the beer more appealing to them. I have yet to hear something like: that beer is too smoky for me, I can't drink it.

As with many beer styles, it comes down to balance.

Cheers!

 

This is a Grodziskie beer from Central Waters Brewing. It has all the smoked ham flavor you need.

 

Burning Chair sounds interesting. Brimstone sounds terrific.

 

@JackHorzempa have you ever, or known of anyone, putting malt in a smoker for “home smoked” malt? If so, to what success? I’m guessing it would need to be at a low temperature.