ABV: 5.2%
Origin: Bamberg, Franken (Bayern), Germany
Website: www.schlenkerla.de
A shorter version was originally published in BEER November 2008.
Heller Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen
Global warming may have turned late autumn into a balmy season that fools trees into staying up past their bedtime, but according to my childhood programming the cold begins in November, when the half of your body turned towards the Guy Fawkes bonfire toasts while the other half freezes. Smoky bonfires should herald long evenings around roaring log fires, with a beer or two to warm the spirits further.
Smoke and ash are old-established colours on the brewer’s palette: indeed all beers would have had a smoky tang in the days when malt was kilned over wood. Beers made with deliberately smoked malt are still a speciality of Bamberg in Franconia: most examples are filtered, but Heller Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen (5.2 per cent) is a cloudy wheat beer from the bigger of the city’s two smoked beer breweries, made using the brewery’s own beechwood-smoked wheat and barley malt and Hallertauer hops.
This is a cloudy deep brownish amber beer with a thick foamy head and a spicy phenolic aroma with restrained smoke. The palate is well balanced and complex with dried banana flavours leading, followed by lots of smoke and burnt rubber notes over smooth bready malt with spiced apple complexity. A dry hoppy finish has tangy apple fruit and more chewy smoke. The soft wheaty flavours make this possibly an easier entry point into the style than the full-on 100% barley malt versions.
For more smoky beers, see next post.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/aecht-schlenkerla-rauchbier-weizen/8565/
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