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Bacon in a GlassSmoked beers are a toasty, rich quaff for winter |
Blame it on the body’s urge to consume more calories in the colder months, or maybe we just don’t want to drink something that’s chilled. Whatever the reason, in the winter, strong, dark ales, porters, and the like taste better than refreshing, icy lagers. Our favorite recent discovery is smoked beer—a style of brown ales, porters, and stouts that are infused with the flavor of smoke, and lovely to drink next to a roaring fire.
The style, made by smoking sprouted barley (malt) before brewing, dates back to 16th-century Germany, where it’s known as rauchbier (German for “smoke beer”) if it’s smoked with wood, or steinbier if it’s smoked by dropping extremely hot stones into the beer during the brewing process. Many of the traditional German versions overwhelm your nasal passages with smoke and taste as if you’re sucking down a glass of liquid bacon. (Not a bad thing, in our opinion.) Recent offerings from American brewers are subtler. Here are our top picks, in order of smokiness.
Extreme Smoke
- Schlenkerla Rauchbier: This German beer is malty, toasty, and rich, with a dry finish.
- Short’s Smoked Apple Ale: Made in Bellaire, Michigan, this ale is fermented with the addition of apples that have been smoked with applewood. Its almost overpoweringly smoky aroma is like that of meat being grilled over a campfire; its flavors include apple and bacon. It’s like barbeque sauce in a beer bottle.
Moderate Smoke
- Alaskan Smoked Porter: The Alaskan Brewing Co., based in Juneau, was one of the first American breweries to begin making rauchbier, in 1988. The malt in this ale is “cold-smoked” over alderwood, meaning that it is slowly smoked at low temperatures (topping out at 100°F). The result is an award-winning beer with hints of raisin, coffee, and chocolate.
- Rogue Smoke Ale: Created to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall, this amber-colored ale from venerable Rogue Brewery, in Newport, Oregon, is smoked over alderwood. It has notes of espresso, caramel, apricots, and, of course, wood smoke.
Subtle Smoke
- Stone Smoked Porter: Malt is peat-smoked in this porter from the Stone Brewing Co., based in Escondido, California, and delivers only the suggestion of smoke. It’s more like a traditional-but-tasty porter with flavors of coffee, chocolate, and toasty malt.
My husband and I experienced the wonderful taste of Rauchbier in Germany several years ago. Thanks to this web site I see that there is a distributor in our city. We will have to track some down and enjoy it again.
Does any one know if I can get these beers in Seattle (and where) or Vancouver BC
Note that the Rogue smoked ale is not a lager, so it is fundamentally different from the German smoked beers.
Nice little article overall and good introduction to smoked beers, but I do have to make one correction. Stienbiers do not get their smoky flavor from hot rocks. In the book Smoked beers by Geoff Larson and Ray Daniels, they were going to present stienbier as a method of producing smoked beers, but during their research, they discovered that adding hot rocks to wort does not create smoke flavor (but does provide caramelization of the wort). It was discovered that Rauchenfels (probably the most well known stienbier) is made with a portion of smoked malt in order to get its smoky flavor.
Alaskan Smoked Porter is amazing but unfortunately used to only be available in Juneau, Alaska. However, I did find it in a grocery store in Bellingham, WA last year so you might be successfull looking in Seattle or Vancouver. It's definitely worth the effort.
My girlfriend was able to pick up a couple of bottles for me when she was in Seattle a couple of years ago. I believe it is a seasonal product, so you have to know when it arrives.
I'm pretty sure she found it here:
http://www.bottleworks.com/
I believe Rogue Smoke is made from both alderwood- and beech-smoked malt.
Just slightly off topic, but does anyone remember Sam Adam's maple porter from about 10 years ago? Best thing that brewery ever made (a seasonal) but I think they stopped after 4 or so years.
This is really insightful, and I'm glad. I'm the type of beer drinker who prefers the malty, hearty ales and such over the lagers and pilsners, even in the summer months.
I'd heard of smoked ales and porters, but never really had the nerve to pick up a few and try them out. I think the next time I'm browsing my local liquor store, I'll probably sample a couple. :)
I've done a little experimenting with smoked beers after home brewing for well over 20 years and have found that native Texas mesquite combined with good old us grown barley and then smoked in the same pit I use for ribs has added some greatness to the traditional brew. My latest success has been a mix of peated malt used in scoth ales and the smoked malt to make one hell of an Imperial smoked scotch ale! (14.2 % alc) I have also combined the mesquite smoked barley with oktoberfest, Vienna, and even dunkleweis with great luck. Now if the US brewers would get on board!
I love the idea of a smoked beer. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but if i'm going to partake, i want unusual....a jalapeno beer once knocked my socks off, and a local microbrewery serves a lovely scotch ale that has a nice smokey undertone. Ever since i gave up eating meat, i've upped the love for all things smoked....cheeses,...fish..paprika...salt..etc etc.