Smoked Beer

Had Bee Smoked from Wentworth two weeks ago in the Market Porter in London

The message from Saxman contains these words:

Being unable to find smoked ale I decided to brew a batch of my own. I could not obtain the smoked malt so I substituted 'Liquid Smoke' which an American contact sent over for me. I was not overly impressed with the final ale but nonetheless, it made a change to my usual bitter.

Compo wrote: > Being unable to find smoked ale I decided to brew a batch of my own. I

I guess it would make a change! That stuff is sold in the farmer's coops over here, used for bar-b-q sauce and the like. Meant to be cooked off, not drunk down!. Yerrccchhhh. Can you still see?

In message , Saxman writes

The GBG lists regular brews. Many smoked beers are winter seasonals or are brewed now and then for bottling, available on draught when there happens to be any in tanks at the brewery.

Your Scots one's on the tip of my tongue...

Stonehenge Old Smoky isn't called that for nothing.

Okells Aile ('Fire') is described as "Smoked Celtic Porter" - I can vouch for the smoke. Porter comes from London.

Beowulf Dragon Stout went down well, the one time it appeared in this area ("I am Beowulf, I 'ave come to kill youh dragon!") and the book says they do it bottle-conditioned.

Ventnor Sandrock Smoked Ale - I think I've tried it but don't remember it, so I suppose it does what it says on the pumpclip.

If you like just a hint of beer in your smoke, bottled Schlenkerla from Bamberg isn't that hard to get. Steinbier's the total smoke experience but harder to get over here.

Not that one. It was Caledonian or something like that. It was in my local Wetherspoon's. It might be in other branches ATM?

There's a Smoked Celtic Porter (If not, then change the word order!) Aile from the IoM Brewery aka Okells. But I bet someone else has identified it already.

Hi

I am a full mash home brewer and must admit I have never tried brewing a smoked beer - despite having American "Liquid Smoke" in our kitchen for adding to barbecue sauces. However, it has crossed my mind to try a smoked brew and there are a couple of smoked beer recipes in Graham Wheeler's "Home Brewing"; as I say, I have never tried them so cannot comment on the final result.

However, his recommendation as an alternative to smoked malt is to use pale malt (or ordinary non-diastatic malt extract if you are a malt extract brewer) and add 10 to 20 millilitres (one teaspoon is 5 mil) of "Liquid Smoke" per 5 UK gallons.

He also gives a few ways of smoking your own malt in the appendices of the above book.

Regards KGB

Caley's website mentions "Smokey Pete" a seasonal, but it's not due out until October! - "Peat smoked beer! Made by careful blends of lightly-peated malt to produce an amber beer with an intriguing combination of subtle smoky roast to complement a fruity, raisony hop." from

Sounds like a raisony d'etre, though? cheers MikeMcG

If it's wetherspoon, celtic and smokey I'll be betting on the Aile.

This was a dark beer.

I have to go out and sort somebody's PC out tonight. I might pop in and see if they have any left?

My first impression was that it reminded me of Lagavulin malt whisky.

I'm trying to ring my local branch, but they are engaged. I wonder what response I'll get? I'll let you know.

I've had some good feedback from my local Wetherspoons and I can confirm that the above is was what it was (in the correct order).

It's not listed as one of their beers in the current GBG.

Thanks for everybody's feedback as well.

The message from "KGB" (KGB) contains these words:

Yep, that's the book I used :-) The final brew was drinkable but I never repeated the experiment. Perhaps I should have another go, after all one cannot hope for perfection on the first attempt.

It can be done!! 25 years ago I was heavy into home brewing & the first time I tried a Porter it was the best beer I had brewed by far. Unfortunately I then spent the next year trying to repeat the brew but it kept coming out nothing like the origional.

The message from "Dave Croft" contains these words:

I sometimes have a similar problem. At Xmas I made two batches of my own 'Platform End bitter' on successive days. One was excellent whilst the other had a backtaste despite using the same method/ingredients/equipment.

This afternoon I discovered a local spoon has it on; so have been mostly drinking it. Once warmed up from spoon-level cold, it's a very fine drink. I hope to continue tomorrow, as long as it hasn't run out by then!

Good for you! I managed to go back and get some more.

It would be.

Brew Dog's Paradox Islay Malt Cask has a powerful smoke flavour via the whisky casks. I wish it wasn't so sweet.

Also, if you have a really good Polish offie, Okocim Palone - a lightly smoked mid-strength dark mild. The label has a really cool phoenix in flames, unmistakeable.