Smoked Beers

It becomes even more puzzling when you look at the kind of flavors which get praised in wild ales (e.g. "funk" and "horse blanket"), and yet a bit of smoke sends people off.

Smoked beers, as people have already mentioned in this thread, are all about balance, and it takes a lot of practice to get that balance right. They're one of my favorite styles.

 

“ …but the Helles has an interesting character that may not be smoked,..” The Schlenkerla Helles does have a smoky taste to it but is subdued in comparison to the other Schlenkerla smoked beers (which are brewed with smoked malts). The smoky flavors in the Schlenkerla Helles is from brewing with reused Schlenkerla yeast (the yeast ‘carries’ smoky flavor compounds ‘on’ them) plus some smoke is carried over from the equipment (e.g., mash tun, etc.).

Cheers!

 

“It becomes even more puzzling when you look at the kind of flavors which get praised in wild ales (e.g. "funk" and "horse blanket"), and yet a bit of smoke sends people off.”

I have no statistics to back me up but I am certain that the majority of beer drinkers (majority of BAs) do not like funky (horse blanket) beers.

I homebrew a Belgian Ale using a combination of brewer’s yeast and Brett. That beer has a HUGE flavor component that I call ‘barnyard’. My wife refers to that beer using the words “horse piss” and she has a disgusted look on her face when she utters those words.

Now, my wife is a BIG lover of smoked beers. She has yet to drink a beer where she utters “too smoky”

Everybody has certain sensitivities to varying flavors.

Cheers!

 

Good info, Sir. So a nice intro to German Rauchbier would be to have a line-up of Aecht beers, beginning with the Helles!

 

I had Sunturnbrew last night, and it blew my mind a little when it comes to smokey beers. I love a heavily peated scotch but I rarely dig smoked beers because I find the smoke to be more cigar than peat. This stuff had expansive campfire air smokiness akin to a glass of Ardbeg Ten. Loved it!

 

My personal favorite Schlenkerla beer is Fastenbier but I have never seen it in bottles; I have only had it on draft.

Cheers!

 

Red's Rye is excellent, as is Terrapins.

 

Contact me and I'll send you a couple.

 

Yes, that Lent beer is wonderful. Only kegs for sure. Cheers.

 

What kills smoke beers for me is when the aromas and flavors get too "Band-Aid" like. I like the sweetness that I get from some of them.

 

Tricky to put into words but I suppose balance means here to me that the smoke is not the only element. A certain complexity is implied, other equally powerful flavours in the background that balance out the smoke, like a sweetness or rich fruit characteristic for instance. The smoke itself shouldn’t feel like they made a bet to see how much ashes & charcoal notes etc. they could put into a beer.

 

Really? I just had this beer last night. The vanilla flavor popped for me at the end. Loved it.

 

Yes agree with the band aid like flavors. Find a smoked beer without any of that and that's what I'm looking for. Stone smoked porter doesn't have much of that flavor IMO

 

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I asked the “balance” question because of your prior post of: “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.”

I suppose my more specific question should have been, why do you think that Stone Smoked Porter is very unbalanced?

Cheers!

 

my favorite also happens to be the first smoked beer I tried, Pipeworks Barrel Aged Smoked Porter (Red & Tan Wax). It completely blew me away and made me want to try others. Sadly, none have been as good as Pipeworks.

 

Anyone try the Uinta Crooked Tinder Rauchbier yet? Picked up 2 bombers but haven't opened them up yet.

 

I haven't had a great experience yet with this style..Stones vanilla smoked and clown shoes roasted pecan tasted pretty bad to me.almost made my stomach hurt.

 

The smoke was like charcoal just burned, raw bitterness nothing to balance it plus same over hop profile as in most Stone beers which made no sense in this context.
I had it less than 4 weeks old, draft in Belgium. Shipped by cooled container, straight from the brewery.

 

Thank you for sharing your thought on Stone Porter. Your perception of this beer is very different from mine. I most recently had Stone Smoked Porter at a Smoked Beer Festival; below are my notes on this beer:

“Stone Smoked Porter: 4; light smoke; a very tasty porter!”

The number “4” above means I rated it as being 4 on a scale that topped off at 5.

Your verbiage of: “The smoke was like charcoal just burned, raw bitterness nothing to balance it plus same over hop profile” is incongruent with my perception of this beer.

Everybody had a different palate and differing expectations in what they look for in a beer.

Cheers!

Edit: FWIW, I went to the BA reviews for this beer (Top Reviewers) and the first review was: "Very smooth for a smoked porter, drinks real easy. Initial big head that dissipitates. Understated smoke in aroma. Deep rich chocolate malt, roast flavour taste. Well malted and not overhopped. Satisfying medium to full mouthfeel. Good porter." That review pretty much matches my perception 100%.

 

Maybe I had an unrepresentative keg or something, who know?
Indeed as one says « De gustibus non est disputandum. » (There is no accounting for taste.)

On a sidenote, recently tried an Alaskan Smoked Porter from 2012, excellent beer.