Beer – #160 – Brewaucracy – Smoko
A Smoked Lager from a new brewer – Brewed by Brewaucracy in the style of a Smoked and they do this all in the ‘Tron – Hamilton, New Zealand.
A 500ml bottle, 26 on the IBU scale of things and 5%ABV – which is two standard drinks.
The good old kiwi Smoko. Idleness! Indolence! Actually, we’re a little envious… if we ever took a break, we’d do it with a bacon sandwich and a beer. If only we could combine the two…
Smoko is our take on a Bamberg-style Rauchbier (literally “smoked beer”). Beechwood smoked malt gives a bacon-on-bread flavour, while the zesty European hops provide a zingy and refreshing bitterness to help wash down that tasty treat.
Enjoy while shirking responsibility.
Instantly there is a lovely wood aroma, although I thought more sawdust than smoke.
Very dark pour, very decent head and a big amount of smoked beer taste, that’s more like it .
This is very drinkable and the layers of taste aren’t all big and punchy, the woody aroma is lighter than the taste, and there is no bitterness in the mix to highlight anything. I didn’t get any smokiness that reminded me of anything other than smoke.
It carries a nice sweetness when it warms in the glass, but it never gives up the smokiness.
The pdubyah-o-meter likes this 8 worth of things. If anything this is too mild a drink and I would have thought it needed a tad more bitterness in the mix, for me there is no “zesty” in this , b ut it’s very very nice, and one of the nicest smoked beers I’ve had. Sterling effort.
Greetings! Greig the brewer here. I’ve just tasted a sample based on reading this review and I thought I’d better comment. I think you’re right about the bitterness. It’s certainly mellowed since we wrote the tasting notes. That said, I still found it clean and crisp enough to balance the maltiness and smoke. We;ll have to agree to disagree on the bacon though – I got beech-smoked bacon right to the end! Glad you liked it though. What a dull world it’d be if we all tasted the same thing. Thanks heaps for the review. I’ll read the In Triplicate one now. 😉
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I really wanted ‘bacon’ but I think I might have expected more or different. The smoked-ness was on the button though, and again when I try it again I’ll be more in-tune with it I hope. Plus it’ll; distract me from the way the Warriors are playing.
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Ha! I know what you mean. Times like this I’m glad I don’t care much for league. 😉
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