I got myself one Schlenkerla Smokebeer today (the Marzen variety) and I just had to say that I wish I could've gotten 100 of em... It tastes soooo good, I find it hard to reason why all beer isn't smoked. Just plain delicious.
Thank you Germany.
The Captain Lawrence Brewing Company, in Pleasantville, NY, has a smoked porter that blows Schlenkerla away.
Phil =====visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild website:
Maybe... but can you get it anywhere but Pleasantville?
In Westchester County and Manhattan.
Phil =====visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild website:
A very long time ago, beer tended to have a smoky flavor (among other things) because the only means of drying malt was to use burning wood for the heat source. Things have changed rather a lot since then. Dang ol' industrial revolution, ahtellyawhut.
Better yet, thank you Franconia or thank you Bamberg :-)
If you can find it, Spezial Rauchbier is also a winner, similar style but not quite as OTT smoke-laden. There are a few smoky beers from American craft breweries as well, including Alaskan Brewing and Stone Brewing. Lurking in my fridge is a smoked lager from Japan. I have no idea how it's going to be.
If ever I'm in NY, I will be sure and try that. Doesn't help much here in Milwaukee though...anyplace to acquire it online?
See, but I love that.
I've been looking for the Alaskan actually, seems it's like the NY smoked beer Phil mentioned and is only available fairly locally. Though I do know you can get the Alsakan online.. I've just not done that yet. If I recall, I think I tried the JP smoked once and I didn't like it as much as the Schlenkerla. But I've been a fan of this one since I first had it a few years ago. I just haven't had it in a few months, before today, and it reminded me how good it was.
I doubt you can get Schlenkerla everywhere, either.
Look for their website. They might have something.
Phil =====visit the New York City Homebrewers Guild website:
You do know that they have others too? There's a Weizen (probably my least favorite, but still yummy), the Ur-Bock (oh god, yes!), and the Lager (pretty good; I only found it recently, and thought it wasn't actually a rauch, but there's a nice smoky taste in there). Maybe you could get 25 of each? :-)
Heh, I'm a big fan of smoked beer (and food) too, but I'm not sure something like an apricot lambic would be good smoked. Cherry, sure, maybe, but...
I didn't see any smoked beer in Ireland, where I was recently, but there's a lot of nice smoked salmon, and the Porterhouse - Temple Bar brewpub in Dublin has a nice "Smokey" burger -- smoked cheese, smoked bacon, and smokey BBQ sauce. Yow. It went pretty well with their Wrassler's Stout, but if they'd had something like a Rauch- Stout, that might have made it even better!
Which Schlenkerla? AFAIK, they don't produce a porter. Comparing a a light lager to a roasty ale is somewhat odd, smokiness notwithstanding.
I'd also advise keeping an eye out for the Schlenkerla Urbock (it's a fall seasonal). I feel the base beer stands up better to the high smokiness than it does with their lighter base styles. E.g., I had the Helles for the first time earlier this month. Too light for the smoke, IMO.
ObHeh: heh.
About the Schlenkerla Helles: wait for it.... ready?
Schlenkerla Helles isn't a Rauchbier. No smoked malts. It's all pale unsmoked malt. It picks up the smoky flavor because so much of the Heller brewery's infrastructure is just plain smoke-tainted.
I love the stuff, but then I'm pretty much an easy mark for most beers in this general style, with the notable exception of some that just have too damn many phenolic aromas (icky bandaids).
Dang! I would have sworn it was made with smoked malts.
You know, when I bought it I was thinking "I know this isn't a rauchbier", and the label bore that out.
But then I drank it. Wow.
Either way, I sure liked it, so I'd call that a wonderful situation, even if others might not appreciate it.
Spezial still has a fair bit of that smoked-ham-in-a-glass character. There are other Franconian smoked beers that vary the smokiness quite a bit.
It's available in the Pacific Northwest. Might be available from the likes of Liquid Solutions; dunno. Stone Smoked Porter makes its way up the length of the West Coast.
It's too bad that the DeGroen beers are no longer with us. That brewery did an excellent smoked lager (bock, IIRC?).
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