Pint-Sized Review: Brauerei Spezial Rauchbier
Posted by brianS on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
It's grilling season here on the Left Coast. Actually, it's almost always grilling season here. So, it's Summer grilling season. And what better to go with smokey, charred, grilled meats than a smokey beer?
Today's featured beer is the lovely, refreshing and elegantly smokey Spezial Rauchbier from Brauerei Spezial in Bamberg, Germany.
Spezial is the oldest producer of Bamberg's special brew, the smoked beer, founded in 1536, according to Shelton Bros. Importers. They also produce a more traditional smoked märzen, a smoked weissbier, smoked bock, and a non-smoked, unfiltered lager generally only available in Germany. Their interpretations of the rauchbier style are much more subtle than those of their somewhat better known Bamberger rival, Schlenkerla.
The brewery has its own maltings and barley malt is smoked right there in downtown Bamberg. The smoke of special beechwood logs burning just beneath the malt kiln filters up, imparting a natural smoky flavor to the fresh barley kernels. The brewer uses 40% of this smoked malt and 60% high quality Bavarian barley malt to make this delicious smoked beer.
Beechwood is, of course, the wood used by a certain Belgian brewer for its St. Louis knockoff of a famed Czech beer. But it is the traditional wood for smoking malts for Bamberger rauchbiers. Here, it imparts a little caramel color and a light smokey bite and sweetness to a surprisingly refreshing lager. Sure, there are some great, hefty smoked beers out there, with the justly famed Alaskan Smoked Porter leading the way. But this is a great, thirst-quenching lager.
Spezial Rauchbier Lager, and then some
Selected as one of the "50 best beers in the World" in 2005 by Men's Journal, this lager (4.7 ABV, $4.49 for a 500 ml bottle at my Bevmo) goes fantastically with grilled steaks, ribs or rich fish, such as salmon, tuna or swordfish. Or with burgers and a caprese salad! Mmmmm.
I let the bottle warm on my kitchen counter for a good 20 minutes before opening. Cold beer is ok, but if you really want to smell and taste the beer as it is meant to be experienced, let it rise to cellar temperature before opening. As you can see, it pours a clear, amber with a light tan head that dissipates quickly. The clean, beechwood smoke aroma presented immediately. Not overwhelming -- I could smell a bit of hop as well. The taste was a wonderful mixture of smoke, mild maltiness and refreshing hop bite, with a little extra smokey spice on the back of the tongue with the finish. This is a beautiful, understated beer. I wish I'd had two.
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First of all, that burger and salad looks absolutely fantastic.
Second of all, I love a good smoked beer. I really wish more US breweries would give them a shot. I think I might need to try one meself, now that I have a smoker.
That is a beautiful brau. A Teutonic friend of mine often serves that up.
(And as cheaptoy notes, the burger and caprese look mighty fine, as well.)