AECHT SCHLENKERLA RAUCHBIER. $3.15, LCBO

 

        I don't know a lot about smokebeers. Heck, this is the second one to be in my glass, but there is one thing I learned on the first one. Stick with it. The first sips are going to bowl you over with meaty, smokey flavour. Sure, you'll pull some subtleties out of you know where to make it seem like you have this great sense of taste, but let's be honest. They taste like the bottle says. Smoke.   Once you get that flavour on your pallet though, the beer becomes much more drinkable, like a good solid stout. Not quite as sweet as an English, not quite as dry as an Irish.
      In the past, before modern things like electricity, any roasting, cooking, and brewing were done with wood fire. It stands to reason that many beers had smokey flavours, and that with advancing technologies, beers were able to move away from uneven roasting, dark malts and smokey overtones.
      Aecht Schlenkerla aims to preserve this smokebeer past, and offers a multitude of brews that all have smoke based flavours. Marzen seems to be the original recipe, brewed in Bamberg, Germany since god-knows-when. It has a great old school bottle that mentions the 1405 without claiming to have been brewed since then. It pours a deep chestnut colour, a glows deep ruby in the light. A big 2 finger head takes about 5 minutes to settle into an uneven but substantial cap. This beer actually crackles and pops like Rice Krispies when left to sit. The smell is very heavy smoke. Like smoked pork hocks and beef jerky, just meaty and thick. It reminds me of putting on a sweater that was worn around a campfire the night before. I decided to let it warm up a little and do some research on it, as darker beers generally drink better when warm. The first sip is smoked meats up front, followed by a roasted malt profile that is present, albiet dwarfed. The smoke is dense, like wet beechwood on a fireplace. It is thick and humid, and a little overpowering at first. But I stick with it, and the smoke starts to play more of a backround role. The problem is, I get this astringent, soapy finish, then a metallic kick like someone put a penny on my tongue. I keep drinking, but it doesn't subside much at all. To be honest, I had to grab a fresh bun and some cheese to slog my way through this pint, the foreign materials in the finish proved too much for me to handle alone. I want to give this beer the benefit of the doubt, and say that it is likely better out of tap in the original pub in Bamberg, Germany. In the bottle?  I give it just 2/10 pints, and I wouldn't buy it again. Try Trafalgar Ales and Meads-Smoked Oatmeal Stout for something I enjoyed more.