Utilizing cherrywood instead of rauchbier-derived beechwood gives peaty smoked German its fiery hickory sear that fizzles as snappy lemon spritz prickles brown-sugared cocoa malting contrasting ancillary black peppered herbage slipping into salami-smoked cured meat zone.
On guest tap at Last Minute Brewing, mild beechwood-smoked cured meat setting brings out distant salami, bacon and pastrami brining above powdered cocoa malting. In the can, creamy cocoa froth lathers peaty beechwood smoked cured meat spicing. A little too mild for rauchbier perfection – but getting close.
On tap at Pompton Craft House, worthy Bamberg-styled pale lager with smoked beechwood borders on being a distinct rauchbier – just a tad too light-bodied, arid and less flavorful than regal Aecht brews from Germany. If there’s one beer style Americans, as of 2024, have not perfected, it’s the meat cured rauchbier – most come out soapy, weak, compromised. However, Von Trapp, in collab with Austin-based Live Oak, have crafted a fairly resilient smoked beer. The beechwood smoke brings out subtle salami-pastrami salting in a sweet lager malt setting with mild Noble hop spicing fading into hickory-seared backdrop.
Just a tad slick and lacking overall seared beechwood residue, Americanized Bavarian smoked lager lets meat-cured pastrami and salami onslaught recede alongside peat-smoked brown tea mustiness, rye-spiced pumpernickel toasting and stylish Band-aid waft as misty lemon fizzing settles in.
On tap at Taphouse 15, soft-toned rauchbier lacks richer meatiness of true German smoked lagers. Mellow beechwood-seared peat mossing secures mild cured meat subtlety (instead of massively smoked carnivorous brininess) while fizzy lemon spicing lingers delicately. Serve as easygoing alternative to smoked beer fence sitters.
Lemony hop spritz dovetails meat-cured beechwood kilning of kellerbier-inspired rauchbier (with floating yeast clumps). Cereal-grained citrus spicing of lagered yeast kellerbier blends fairly well with campfire-doused rauchbier styling. In the midst, brown-sugared smoked ham and bacon sweetness picks up boggy peat mossing.
The American craft beer market may be thriving, but rarely has any brewer been able to replicate the meat-cured, kiln-smoked rauchbier style the Germans invented. And this quaint “maple caramel bacon beer” is no exception. Its initial beechwood-smoked grain soiling dissipates as the syrupy maple malting gains cloying nature that contrasts an unwelcomed lemon wedge souring. Unbalanced and underdeveloped.
There’s simply not enough peaty beechwood smoke, meat-charred nuttiness or campfire embers to satisfy any true German rauchbier fanatic. Band-aid-like beechwood sear stays tepid as misplaced lemon spritz and pasty pale malting deplete smoky maple bacon wisp.
Desirable merger pits rauchbier-like kilned barley malts and wood-singed peated Scotch dryness against brown-sugared molasses sweetness for 9.6% ABV limited edition 2017 release. Oaken vanilla seeps into kiln-smoked Scotch continuance, dampening its campfire setting while Band-Aid-wafted cured salami, seared bacon and glazed ham undertones emerge.
On tap at Ambulance, offbeat collaboration with Cologne’s Freigeist Brewery blends rustic farmhouse ale with beechwood-smoked rauchbier. Damp campfire setting receives sweet maple syruping to contrast smoked salami salience as well as saison-related barnyard acridity and sour lemon snip.
On tap at Beef Trust, delightful cornucopia of flavors blend well as peaty beechwood-smoked malts usurp sugary maple syruping and sweet bacon overtures. An unusual springtime prospect German rauchbier fans will enjoy.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead – Haledon, well-done rauchbier/ IPA hybrid (in collaboration with local Colorado brewers, Ska) brings smoky campfire, beechwood and mesquite tones to crisply clean citrus fruiting. Barley-smoked cured meat pleasantry keeps rauchbier likeness lingering longer and stronger than casual orange, grapefruit, peach and apricot illusions.
