January 2014 Tasting: Smoked Beers

[dbüscher]

Smoked Beers

If you base your opinion of smoked beers on the unpleasantly intense ash-tray aroma of Rogue’s Voodoo Doughnut Maple Bacon Ale or the unpalatable band-aid flavor of an improperly stored imported Rauchbier that is past its prime, then you probably cringed when you saw this tasting.

Relax. Don’t worry. Grab a smoked brew. There are some great examples out there, and I’ve got a few lined up.

According to the BJCP guidelines, smoked beer should be judged by its Goldilocks-like balance of smokiness (not too little, not too much, just right!) and the quality of the base beer style.

Unfortunately, there are not many variations of smoked beers, most commercially available examples fall into two categories: Rauchbier (essentially a Smoked Märzen) and Smoked Porters. This tasting is not intended to showcase crazy, outside-the-box examples; rather I hope you will try to imagine the possibilities of brewing a smoked beer...

What base beer would you use?

What are the characteristics of such fundamentally different styles as Märzens and Porters that make them suitable for smoked beers?

How much smoked malt would you use and what kind—Rauch malt, peat smoked malt, or would you smoke your own? What kind of wood would you use?

See you Thursday…

Pröst!

Duane
Bier Meister

[schwiz]

Still not a fan of smoked beers, but your idea in using them in Cheddar soup is great! That german one especially would be good.