Smoked beer
Encyclopedia
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
with a distinctive smoke flavor imparted by using malt
Malt
Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air...
ed barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
dried over an open flame. The Rauchbiers of Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
in Germany, Schlenkerla
Schlenkerla
Schlenkerla is a historical brewpub in Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany. It is most renowned for its Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier .-Products:...
in particular, are the best-known of the smoked beers.
History
Drying malt over an open flame may impart a smoky character to the malt. This character may carry over to beers brewed with the smoked malt. Prior to the modern era, drying maltMalt
Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air...
ed barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
in direct sunlight was used in addition to drying over flames. Even though kiln
Kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced. Uses include the hardening, burning or drying of materials...
drying of malt, using indirect heat, did not enter into widespread usage until the industrial era, the method was known as early as the first century BC. Also, there have been various methods over the years of preparing cereal grains for brewing, including making beer from bread, so smoked beer was not universal.
Beginning in the 18th century, kiln drying of malt became progressively more common and, by the mid-19th century, had become the near-universal method for drying malted grain. Since the kiln method shunts the smoke away from the wet malt, a smoky flavour is not imparted to the grain, nor to the subsequent beer. As a result, smoke flavour in beer became less and less common, and eventually disappeared almost entirely from the brewing world.
Bamberg Rauchbier
Certain breweriesBrewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
, however, maintained the smoked beer tradition by continuing to use malt which had been dried over open flames. Two brewpubs in Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
, Germany: Schlenkerla
Schlenkerla
Schlenkerla is a historical brewpub in Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany. It is most renowned for its Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier .-Products:...
and Spezial — have continued smoked beer production for nearly two centuries. Both are still in operation today, alongside seven other breweries in the same town. Both dry their malt over fires made from beechwood logs, and produce several varieties of Rauchbier ("smoke beer" in German).
Smoked beers outside Germany
In Austria, the Upper Austrian brewery Braucommune Freistadt produces smoked beer.In The Netherlands, Emelisse produces a traditional German Rauchbier, as well as a smoked porter
Porter (beer)
Porter is a dark-coloured style of beer. The history and development of stout and porter are intertwined. The name was first used in the 18th century from its popularity with the street and river porters of London. It is generally brewed with dark malts...
and a peated imperial Russian stout.
In Italy, Birrificio Lambrate in Milan produces "Ghisa", a smoked beer with Bamberg's typical features.
In Japan, Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
brewery Moku Moku produce a smoked ale, the brewery's name being a reference to the use of smoke screens by ninja. The brewery is part of a cooperative that also smokes ham and makes sausages.
In the United States, Geoff Larson, founder and brewmaster of the Alaskan Brewing Company
Alaskan Brewing Company
Alaskan Brewing Company, a regional craft brewery located in Juneau, Alaska, was founded in 1986. The company's beers have won numerous awards at regional, national, and international beer competitions. Alaskan Brewing Company is the 12th largest craft brewery by sales volume in the United States...
made a smoked beer, Alaskan Smoked Porter, in 1988 influenced by the Rauchbiers of Bamberg. In 2008, New Glarus Brewing Company
New Glarus Brewing Company
The New Glarus Brewing Company is an American brewery founded in 1993. Located in New Glarus, Wisconsin, a small town south of Madison, Wisconsin, the New Glarus Brewing Company is a small independently owned craft brewery...
in Wisconsin produced "Smoke on the Porter", a beer produced partially with Bamberg-smoked malts and partially with malts smoked at a neighboring smokehouse. Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams (beer)
Samuel Adams is an American brand of beer brewed by the Boston Beer Company and its associated contract brewers. The company was founded in 1984 by Jim Koch, Harry M. Rubin, and Lorenzo Lamadrid in Boston, Massachusetts, USA...
of Boston began brewing their "Bonfire" Rauchbier in 2011, making its premiere in Sam Adam's "Harvest Collection" alongside their well known Oktoberfest and Pumpkin Ale.
In Quebec, Montreal's Dieu du Ciel brewery has produced a Rauchbier called the Charbonnière since 1999. In Gatineau, Brasseurs du temps (BDT) produces a Rauchbier called Mille Neuf Cendres. In addition, Chicoutimi's "La Tour à Bières" brews a red rauchbier called "1912", in reference to the year when a large fire destroyed a big part of the town of Chicoutimi.
In Brazil, Eisenbahn
Eisenbahn
Eisenbahn is a microbrewery located in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil. It produces beer and draft beer following the Reinheitsgebot, with a quite variety of flavours and fermentations. The name is an analogy to an old railroad station, that was close to the building now used by the company as a...
produces a smoked beer called Eisenbahn Rauchbier, using malts imported from Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
.
In Sweden, Närke Kulturbryggeri produces a smoked beer called Anders Göranssons Bästa Rököl, and Nils Oscar Brewery
Nils Oscar Brewery
Nils Oscar Brewery is a Swedish microbrewery and spirits company based in Nyköping.The brewery was founded in Stockholm 1996 as Kungsholmens Kvartersbryggeri i Kungsholmen, Stockholm but changed name to Tärnö Bryggeri rather quickly...
produces Nils Oscar Rökporter, a smoked porter.
In Denmark, Hornbeer Brewery produces a smoked beer, called Røgøl (Danish for Smoked Beer)
In Australia, Redoak Boutique Beer Café produces a smoked beer called Redoak Rauch Bier. Also Brewmaster Hayden Mokaraka at Blue Sky Brewery in Cairns brewed a Bamberg inspired Smoke Wheat Beer that picked up a gold medal at AIBA 2010.
In New Zealand, the Invercargill Brewery seasonally each winter brew a rauchbier named Smokin' Bishop, made using Manuka
Leptospermum scoparium
Leptospermum scoparium is a shrub or small tree native to New Zealand and southeast Australia. Evidence suggests that L. scoparium originated in Australia before the onset of the Miocene aridity and dispersed relatively recently from Eastern Australia to New Zealand. It is likely that on arrival...
.
In Britain, Meantime Brewery in London produces Winter Time, a smoked old ale
Old ale
Old ale is a term commonly applied to dark, malty beers in England, generally above 5% abv, also to dark ales of any strength in Australia. Sometimes associated with stock ale or, archaically, keeping ale, in which the beer is held at the brewery....
, and Kelham Island Brewery
Kelham Island Brewery
The Kelham Island Brewery is an independent brewery based in Sheffield, England. The brewery currently owns one public house in Sheffield, the Fat Cat...
in Sheffield produces Brooklyn Smoked Porter in association with Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn Brewery
Brooklyn Brewery was started in 1987 by former Associated Press correspondent Steve Hindy and former Chemical Bank lending officer Tom Potter. Hindy learned to brew beer during a six year stay in various Middle Eastern nations such as Saudi Arabia and Syria, where possession and consumption of...
.
The Spoetzl Brewery
Spoetzl Brewery
Spoetzl Brewery is a brewery located in Shiner, Texas, USA. Also known as the "little brewery in Shiner", the brewery produces Shiner Bock, a dark beer that is now distributed in 41 states. The brewery is owned by The Gambrinus Company.-History:...
in Shiner, Texas previously produced "Shiner Smokehaus", a Helles style beer that used mesquite smoke for the taste. This beer is no longer being produced seasonally.
In Finland, Vakka-Suomen Panimo produces smoked beer called Prykmestar SavuKataja (smoked juniper).