Rauchbier

Had a 2012 Alaskan Smoked Porter on Saturday to celebrate my first brew day. It has mellowed out a lot and was very enjoyable.

 

I've never gotten anything "meaty" from a rauchbier, BUT I would compare the Schlenkerla Bock to a BBQ sauce flavor. Especially if it has any age on it. That sweet malt takes a little bit of a turn when it oxidizes. Combined with the smoke it takes on a Kansas City BBQ sauce flavor.

 

The meaty character really does come out for me at times.. with the smoke there's a good malt sweetness which really can come off as bacon ... carmalized pork... all that great thick fatty umami like qualities...

When Rauch's are done right for me they are amazing and I can't get enough of them.. when they are bad they are usually REALLY BAD... like drink liquid phenols, band aids, medicine gauze, burnt plastic kind of stuff... yikes!

 

This can be said of other beers as well, but maybe in more of a soy or hoisin character.

In all my years of enjoying (German) Rauchbier, I've never gotten any meat character from a fresh beer -- even the less-than-new beers took on more oxidation than a meat or "meat tenderizer" character. I think If I ever actually taste "meat" flavor in a beer it will probably make me give up drinking!

Here's a question inline with the discussion: Does anyone taste meat in Scotch Whisky?

 

I am a more American whiskey drinker particularly bourbon instead of scotch, however with scotch due to the use of peat bogs I get more of a grassy earth smoke .. classic peat... I may have actually gotten a bit of meaty smoke from one which ironically came off more like a bourbon strangely (off the top of my head can't remember which scotch whisky that was). For the record I am not a big scotch fan, that's just me. Ironically the one's I have tasted that I really enjoyed are unfortunately just way too expensive for me.

Had a few meaty bacon like flavors off bourbons from time to time, some of the caramel sweetness can sometimes come off that for me, and other American whiskeys. Can't remember which ones exactly but has happened.

Mezcal is also another great smokey spirit, but it's in the tequila realm.. never got bacon off of those but Mezcal is great stuff too I think.

 

Interesting question, and a good point.

To be honest, the first Rauchbier I ever had was from Sam Adams in a fall mix pack. Tasted just like bacon, I hated it, and it's one of the only beers I've ever drain poured half way through.

Maybe the strength of Scotch Whiskey allows only the smoke character to pull through? Scotch ages well, a Rauchbier, not so much.

 

I get it only from their urbock really, the marzen and doppelbock are a little too sweet to let anything meaty develop but the urbock definitely gives me a jerky vibe towards the end, which I don't see as a bad thing.

 

Pretty sure Scotch stops aging once it's left the cask. Unless, of course, you leave a half-full bottle untouched too long -- then you get bad aging!

*Research Edit:

 

No whisk(e)y ages once it's bottled.

That's why it is incredibly exciting to find a very old bottle of something sometimes on a shelf somewhere. You might even be drinking from a distillery that no longer exists. Opening one up is literally like opening a time capsule, assuming it hasn't been subjected to extremely bad storage conditions for that lengthy time period.

 

It was love at first sip for me where Rauchbiers are concerned.

 

Me too, totally went bonkers myself when I first had one.

 

Funny thing - I mainly get it with the Doppelbock... a smoky salami quality.

I'm a big fan of Schlenkerla's output, but I like some of their beers much more than others. I used to have a preference for the heaviness of the Urbock, but that's shifted to the drinkability of the Marzen and Fastenbier. A heretical thought around here - I'm not a fan of the Helles, it's not harmonious for me.

Another heretical thought - I'm always drawn to Jack's Abby beers, and I'm never all that happy with them.

American brewers seem to be more drawn to making smoky porters than lagers. With some exceptions, I usually find the results to be acrid.

An acquired taste? Not for me. Love at first sip. The moment that I had a beer at Schlenkerla in Bamberg, my descent into this beer hobby really began. One and done? Not for me either. Many real German lagers make me want more and Schlenkerla's Marzen is in this category.

I don't really get the oft repeated desire to pair such beers with BBQ, but I don't think of food pairings with beer in general. Are people as quick to pair Heady Topper with a grapefruit half?

Regarding the Caldera beer that started this thread, it's nice, but unsurprisingly, I don't find it to be Schlenkerla-nice. It has a really nice ruby color to it. It's great that it inspired such a thread.

I think I've said it before, but I can't think of any brewery that is as intertwined with a style in the minds of site users as Schlenkerla and Rauchbier. Conversation around this style is as tightly focused as you'll ever encounter here.

 

My favorite Schlenkerla beers:

1. Fastenbier; that is just a nice balanced yet complex beer

2. Helles: a tasty Helles with just a touch of smoke from the brewing process (no smoked malt is used to make this beer.

Cheers

 

I think I remember reading that Bambergers say you only really "get" Rauchbiers after drinking a few liters. I think I could handle that - love the style.

 

The one and only...http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/263/ Brauerei Heller-Trum/Schlenkerla

 

The Schlenkerla Helles I enjoy also, but it also sort of trips me up and has the ability to confuse me. It's got a little bit of that smoke character but then I look and taste and see a light like pils and my mind sort of goes a little huh wha?!

Just the way I am I guess. I've been wanting the Z lager, and the Caldera one for some time now... along with many others

 

It's in my 2 cents a Munich Helles with a bit of smoke character. So I say neither Is it tasty!? OH hell yes.. actually I've never had it on draught before come to think of it, only bottles.

 

I think the association between hardwood smoked malt and smoked meat is an obvious one, it doesn't mean that you are tasting raw or cooked protein, but that you are associating the aroma and flavor with the standout flavor of smoked meat, i.e the smoke. The peat-smoke flavor in Scottish whisky (and in beers using peat smoked malt) on the other hand is entirely different, reminding one of a freshly tarred boat. Peat flavor also reminds me of tar flavored sugar pastilles, but again it's the tar flavor that is giving me the associations, not the sugar. An association is not the same as being identical.

 

But it's the smokiness that you smell/taste and that's not the complete profile of either beer or meat, so why say, "That beer tasted like bacon."?

To me, both Smoked Beer and Scotch remind me of old houses with well-used fireplaces or camp fires. Yes, they're different smoky characters, but both of my examples depend on wood used as well. On the other hand, bacon or ham remind me of breakfast at my grandmother's house and smoked pork or beef reminds me of cookouts. Point being, I can really discern between many characteristics that don't lump together for me. Experience and attention to detail? I don't know, but I like good flavors of all kinds.

Oh, and certain Pacific Northwest hops always remind me of tar. But the tar in ship-making and road-paving are probably two very different sensations.