Tag Archives: smoke beer

Session #26: Stone Smoked Porter

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The Session - Beer Blogging FridaySession #26 is Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em, hosted by Lew Bryson.

There may be more smoked beers than are dreamed of in your philosophy, Horatio; it’s not just rauchbier lagers from Franconia. Within the last year, I’ve had a strange smoked wheat beer, light and tart, that local brewers insisted was a re-creation of a Polish grodziski beer; a lichtenhainer, another light smoked wheat beer; several smoked porters; the odd Schlenkerla unsmoked helles that tastes pretty damned smokey; and, yeah, several types of smoked lagers. You’ve got three weeks, is what I’m saying: go find a smoked beer.

stone_smoked_porterIf you follow my writings on Hop-Talk at all, you know about me and porters; but, I promise not to go off on the porter style. I will treat this brew as a specialty brew and nothing more.  I will comment on my enjoyment of drinking smoke flavoring which I am going to hate.

wait for it…..

I loved this. I am surprised by how great this beer is, but not by who made it. After all, Stone tells us outright that they don’t make beer that everyone will like, rather, they make beer that only some will absolutely LOVE; otherwise they are just on the road to mediocrity.

It does not taste smokey, yet the hint is there. It is complex, strong, and a fine dark ale. I congratulate Stone for hitting the porter style on the head. This is a dark beer, strong, with roasted flavors abound but none overpowering the beer on the whole.

Stone claims only malted barley, hops yeast and water, so some of the barley may have been smoked, but they certainly did it to the perfect degree. I don’t feel like I am drinking ashes.

Stone suggests serving with chocolate or  even with a good PB&J. (they recommend sourdough, all natural peanut butter, and blackberry preserves) I had mine with some smoked Swiss cheese… it really goes with anything.

Only 5.9% ABV and my wife loved it too – bonus!

I will pay the premium for this beer and give a 4.5 on the unofficial Hop-Talk rating.

Session #26: Weyerbacher Fireside Ale

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The Session - Beer Blogging FridayThis edition of The Session is sponsored Lew Bryson at Seen Through a Glass.

Announcing Session #26: Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em

There may be more smoked beers than are dreamed of in your philosophy, Horatio; it’s not just rauchbier lagers from Franconia. Within the last year, I’ve had a strange smoked wheat beer, light and tart, that local brewers insisted was a re-creation of a Polish grodziski beer; a lichtenhainer, another light smoked wheat beer; several smoked porters; the odd Schlenkerla unsmoked helles that tastes pretty damned smokey; and, yeah, several types of smoked lagers. You’ve got three weeks, is what I’m saying: go find a smoked beer.

Smoked beer. Not my favorite. Smoked anything generally doesn’t make it onto my hit parade. What the hell? How bad could it be?

I hied myself over to my favorite beer retailer. There’s the Stone Smoked Porter. Ron’s doing that one, so I’ll skip it. Rogue has one. In a bomber, though. Do I want to make that kind of commitment?

Weyerbacher Fireside AleAh, here we go: Weyerbacher Fireside Ale. “An Intriguing Dark Ale with a Touch of Smokiness”. Sounds like just the thing.

7.5% ABV. Sounds like the kind of thing one should enjoy sitting next to a fire.

It’s brown; the color of coffee, with a tan, craggy head. I get maltiness and maybe just a hint of smoke in the aroma. Malty, nutty, and just a trace of smoke in the flavor. Moderate bitterness in the finish I think this would go well with a nice sharp cheese. (I think I have some cheddar in the house. Off to search.)

It’s not something I think I’d make my regular, but it’s not too bad.

This is also Beer-a-Day #93.

Weyerbacher Fireside Ale

Session #26 announced: smoked beers

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The Session - Beer Blogging FridayThe Session is a monthly one-day event held by beer bloggers around the world, where they each post their thoughts on a unified theme.

That theme, for April, is Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em, hosted by Lew Bryson.

There may be more smoked beers than are dreamed of in your philosophy, Horatio; it’s not just rauchbier lagers from Franconia. Within the last year, I’ve had a strange smoked wheat beer, light and tart, that local brewers insisted was a re-creation of a Polish grodziski beer; a lichtenhainer, another light smoked wheat beer; several smoked porters; the odd Schlenkerla unsmoked helles that tastes pretty damned smokey; and, yeah, several types of smoked lagers. You’ve got three weeks, is what I’m saying: go find a smoked beer.

This episode of the Session will take place on April 3, 2009. Details here: Announcing Session #26: Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em

Flying Dog Dog Schwarz

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Flying Dog logoBeer-a-Day #33

As usually happens once a year or so, my FOAM meeting this month was held at the Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland. For the trivial cost of $5 for a glass, I could sample everything they had on tap.

They had a couple of Wild Goose offerings on tap, as well as a large portion of Flying Dog’s “The Pack”, “Canis Major” and the spring seasonal: Garde Dog Biere de Garde. Three offerings caught my eye today:

First was the Wild Goose Pumpkin Patch Ale. Pumpkin ale is a bit out of season, but it is a guilty pleasure of mine so I decided to have that first.

Then I found out that on the hand pump was the Wild Goose Oatmeal Stout. Not only was it on cask, which was unusual enough, but this batch had been further dry-hopped. The silky-smooth hand-pumped oatmeal stout combined with the spice of dry hops made for an interesting combination.

But what made the biggest impression on my was Dog Schwarz, part of their Wild Dog series. I don’t usually like smoke beers, but this one was nicely balanced. Frankly, from the first sip I was craving bratwurst.

You don’t need to join a Maryland homebrew club. Flying Dog offers tours and tastings every Saturday.