Smoked Beers

Black Husky Smoke Monster is one of my favorite beers of all time. Tastes like someone dipped bacon in a frosty.

 

Crusader says that Aecht Schlenkerla may be (seem) chemically sweeter than many, but doesn't taste so. So true. I would posit that the smoked beers from Aecht Schlenkerla are a brand of alchemy that is very hard to define. Not for everyone, but close to perfection.

 

I don't know that there are many American smoke beers that are more in your face than Schlenkerla.....


I agree though, "smoke beer" is less of a style and more of a technique. To add to what you already mentioned, I've seen smoked barleywines, smoked "wee heavy" (Scottish barleywine), smoked wheatwines, smoked stouts/porters, smoked imperial stouts/porters, smoked hefeweizens, smoked doppelbocks, smoked Oktoberfestbier and smoked helles lagers. I've heard of smoked brown ales and smoked Irish red ales.

 

Had Stone, and Epic's smoked porter, and really don't recall any additional sweetness over a porter. Really as some have said, just that smoked flavor on top of a good porter flavor.

 

Seems like we start with Alaskan Smoked Porter (yummy alder) and progress to Schlenkera
Now we see others like "Vampire Slayer" oops
Its a nice side

 

My experience with USA smoked beers is limited. Hence the “inspired” part, referring to European examples which were clearly influenced by USA & not by German tradition.
It is about balance for me, I know that many will disagree with me but I found Stone Smoked Porter very unbalanced. Shenkerla in my opinion on the other hand is supremely balanced.

 

Had Mendocino Talon Smoked Double Porter the other night in NYC, cask aged, and man was that good.

Also, Stone Smoked Porter with Vanilla beans if you can find it has a nice gentle smokey flavor.

 

“It is about balance for me, I know that many will disagree with me but I found Stone Smoked Porter very unbalanced. Shenkerla in my opinion on the other hand is supremely balanced.” An intriguing idea. What exactly defines “balance” in a smoked beer?

Cheers!

 

To me, it means that the smoked flavor/smell isn't overpowering the other characteristics of the beer.

 

For me, it's not allowing the smoke to overpower GOOD beer. Aecht Schlenkerla for some is too smoky, but the extreme high quality of the beer wears the natural smoking quite nicely to me. Many American versions that I have tried are strong on smoke and weak on BEER.

 

Exactly- and that underlying quality in Schlenkerla means that it gets better the more you have of it.

I recently picked up a bottle of Fort Collins Out of the Ashes, in part due to the tag around the neck of the bottle indicating a GABF Gold medal winner. The first 6 ounces or so were quite nice indeed, with a clean smoke character and good balance. But after that it became a chore to drink as the malt character began to fade. One bomber was enough for me. I can see how it won a medal, since the judges only had a limited amount to work with, but overall Schlenkerla's Helles gets it right because the base beer is fantastic in its own right.

 

My favorite smoked beer is the Red Herring from Green Jack Brewery. In my review, I did note that it exhibited little to no sweetness. I think it's overwhelming quality is creaminess. It's about as sweet as un-sugared cream is sweet

 

I just finished and reviewed Jack's Abby Fire in the Ham. The smoke, using beechwood, was VERY well done imho. Quite different from any other smoked brews I've tried. Caveat...no German smoked brews have I ever had the chance to try.

 

Hill farmstead's smoked porter is rediculous. It might be better than Alaskan. If you have the opportunity to get it/trade for it you will not regret it. It has a fuller mouthful and more chocolate/roasted malt character.

 

“ ..but overall Schlenkerla's Helles gets it right because the base beer is fantastic in its own right.”

I am also a fan of Schlenkerla Helles; a tasty beer indeed.

Michael, just out of curiosity, you do know that zero smoked malt is used to make Schlenkerla Helles, right?

Cheers!

 

“Hill farmstead's smoked porter…” What is the name (brand) of the Hill Farmstead Smoked Porter?

Cheers

 

Fear and trembling. BM me if your interested in a trade, I may have an extra bottle. I would have to check my cellar.

 

That is true, but the Helles has an interesting character that may not be smoked, but does have nuances in that direction. Maybe the fermenters? I believe he may have been referring to the "nuetral" Helles as very high quality, indicating quality throughout the line-up.

 

Yeah, and I am amazed that they could consistently pull something like that off so well. There are precious few brewers in the world who could get just the right amount of smoke character in a beer like that without using any smoked malt- they seem to have it nailed down ( pretty much like everything else they do ).

Yeah- I was focusing on the 'drinkability' of the base helles there, but there is no doubt that it has a smoked character. The beer I was relating it to has a helles-like base beer.