The Rauch: Rauchbier by Dovetail

It's a shame that the Steve's Liquor out on Junction Road is on the far west side instead of the more fashionable east side where I live. This is because that store is a reliable source of the elixir that is rauchbier. They always have Schlenkerla's Helles available, if nothing else, and are happy to stock rauchbiers from whomever may distribute them to Madison and not just Schlenkerla. Last year I recall going in and finding they had a rather nice selection of Schlenkerla's smoky brews.

On a more recent stop, I found some of Dovetail's Rauchbier which only has to make the trip from Chicago and not across the ocean from Bamberg. (Though I didn't see the Fastenbier on my this visit. But, it's not too late as it's still Lent.) I tasted it several years ago when I took a trek out to Ravenswood and stopped in at the brewery. Sadly, I had never seen it on a Madison shelf until now and had somehow always missed it on my various stops at Binny's.

It has been the Mr. Snuffleupagus of brews. The Dovetail website declares it's Rauchbier season and the Binny's website says, "Oh yeah, we've got some." Yet it's nowhere to be seen when I am wandering the aisles. It's as if another rauchhead always buys that last 4-pack just before I walk in the door so I just miss it by mere seconds.

And thusly I was thrilled to see it here in Madison.

My recollection of having drunk it several years back does not extend beyond "Ooh! This stuff is amber and tasty." so there was this sense of tasting it for the first time all over again.

The big tan head of loose foam that topped my pour lasted a goodly amount of time so you are able to see it in my photograph. The beer was clear and had a deep amber hue. Lots of bubbles were to be seen inside. Oh mama, did I smell the smoke! Others seem to describe every rauchbier they encounter as smelling and tasting like bacon. Yet no one seems to describe smoked beef brisket as smelling or tasting like bacon. Who among us thinks smoked cheddar has any bacon-like qualities? Does anyone add smoked paprika to their food thinking it will add the aroma and flavor of bacon?

It's just this beer piety that most people accept and generally ends further attempts to really dig into what the malt is laying down for your palate.

Here the smokiness is distinctly unbaconlike and more akin to smoked Swiss cheese. There was also plum in the aroma as well as a herbal hoppiness.

This stuff had a really nice fizziness and a big dose of rauch caressed my tongue into a smoky bliss. I also tasted a bit of caramel, though this was not a particularly sweet brew, some mild stone fruit, and a bit of bread. Oh, and those herbal hops added a nice bit of balance.

The smokiness lingered on the finish a bit before a wave of hops came in to provide what I thought was a moderate bitterness and slightly more dryness. This is not a particularly hoppy beer but there was enough to balance all those malt flavors and I liked how they came in and washed the smoke away.

Sehr schön! The smoky taste was the star of the show here with a clean, sharp flavor not dulled by sweetness. My hypothesis is that sweetness makes for a heavier taste that mimics fat in some way and gives rise to comparisons to bacon. Without the sweetness, the smoke flavor is cleaner and more woody and leans towards the fuliginous.

And thus ends my hypothesizing for today.

But, in truth, I loved all the malty flavors, especially that bit of bread. I wouldn't have minded a little more hoppiness but, as it is, they offered balance and a nice herbal-spicy flavor. The bitterness was nice on the finish too. Just a great mix of flavors.

Junk food pairing: Bleu cheese is the perfect pairing for your Rauchbier and I recommend grabbing a bag of Buffalo Blue Cheese Combos. The spicy heat complements the hops while the creamy, earthy taste of the cheese brings out new, albeit subtle, dimensions to the smoke.

If you gaze long enough into a Schwarzbier...: Aecht Schlenkerla Erle by Schlenkerla

Occasionally I surf on over to the Schlenkerla website, which seems to not have changed since the Geocities era. This is wholly appropriate since the brewery began during the Middle Ages and seems centuries away from ever brewing an IPA. As I am browsing, I fall into a dream where I am in Bamberg. After a little Wandern through the Franconian countryside, I find myself rather thirsty and so I traipse through the Altstadt in search of refreshment. Looking up at one point, I see the brewer's star beckoning me into Schlenkerla's historic tavern. There I order a Rauchbier or swei or alle. I drink with gusto and rivulets of fuliginous goodness run down my beard. I try to lap it up with my tongue but, not being Gene Simmons, it just won't reach. Locals give the foolish tourist their best side-eye glances and then...and then my oneiric bliss ends because reality intrudes and I have to get back to work or take out the trash.

Until the day comes when I find myself in Bamberg, it seems as if I will have to make do with Steve's Liquor over on Junction Road. When I finally got fed up with the Woodman's by my house having stopped carrying Schlenkerla altogether, I zipped over to the west side hoping that Steve's could feed my need for smoke. And so they did.

Not only did they have the Märzen (if you carry Schlenkerla, you serve their Märzen, if nothing else), but they had the fairly new Fastenbier as well. Yeah, it was introduced in 2005 but, if your brewery has been around since 1405, 19 years is barely yesterday. Even newer, though - basically fresh out of the kettle womb - was the Aecht Schlenkerla Erle, a Schwarzbier, which seems to have been introduced only last year.

Not only is Schlenkerla trying out a new bier style here, but they're also using a novel wood for smoking their malt - alder. If memory serves, alder is used to smoke the malt that Alaskan Brewing uses in their annual delight, Smoked Porter. Alaskan's brew is the only one I've had (that I know of) that uses alder smoked malt so my experience with the stuff is limited. I recall alder giving a slightly mellower, almost sweeter taste, than the workhorse beechwood that, as I understand it, Schlenkerla has been using for ages. As in centuries. Not really sweeter but a little less sharp, not that Schlenkerla's brews have anything approaching an acrid taste, mind you.

The deep, dark brown liquid had a reddish tint to it and was topped by a fine tan head that stuck around a little while. "Black beer" is apt here as I couldn't tell if the stuff was clear (no doubt it was) or had any bubbles inside zipping upwards. I held the glass close to my eyes to get a better look and instead had a weird, unsettling Nietzschean moment. The aroma must have been assembled by the Bambergian Jean-Baptiste Grenouille because it has all the scents that I desire in a beer. First was the alder-laced smoke which worked hand-in-hand with a plum-like sweetness. A delicious breadiness held fast against the piquant smoke and was joined by some spicy hops and tinge of roastiness.

My first sip revealed a light-medium body with a moderate dose of fizz. Considering I've only ever had one Schwarzbier from Deutschland, Köstritzer, this all seemed par for the course. The heavenly smoke flavor made its presence known immediately and with it came a slight sweetness which I think was a bit of malt and a bit of accent from the smoke. Spicy/peppery hops were easy to discern but a faint breadiness less so.

The finish was surprisingly complex with the smoke yielding room on my tongue for hoppy bitterness and a bit of dryness as well. The smokiness then faded leaving a roasty malt taste to ride it out until I took my next sip.

Sehr Schön!

With the fizz being on the low side, this was a smooth tasting brew. I found myself drawn to the smoke-roasty combo like a junkie to the needle. The hops were applied perfectly. They added a nice spicy taste that made a fine counterpoint to all of the malty flavors yet the herb never dared try to stop the Maillard-guaiacol juggernaut. And the aftertaste was just great, going through various phases like the moon.

Junk food pairing: Grab a bag of Gardetto's Deli-Style Mustard Pretzel Mix. It's mustard mustard and not honey mustard with the unneeded sweetness. Plus you get their prized rye chips in addition to the pretzels. The brand sounds Italian but this is a Teutonic snack mix through and through. You might want to grab a couple bags as Erle is an easy-going 4.2% A.B.V. so you'll likely have more than one.

Just like being in Bamberg. But different.: Smoked Helles by Working Draft Beer Co.

There is no better antidote to happiness, no greater engine of grief, nothing better able to transform a calm and peaceful demeanor into a fight or flight response than Twitter. It is a wicked place. Virtual bands of brigands roam the site hurling insults at any and everyone. Iniquitous toads lie in wait to vent their spleens at the innocent like lambs to the slaughter. Perfidious keyboard warriors don the cloak of anonymity and revel in being the nemesis of people who merely want to look at cat pictures. Dante himself could never have conceived a circle of Hell that approaches the sheer evil that is Twitter.

The latest trespass against my pure heart came the other day when I was happily scrolling along and Twitter’s algorithm – talk about banality of evil – showed me some tweets by a total stranger who was vacationing in Germany.

“Oh, look! Here I am on the shore of the river Regnitz!” one proudly announced. “Check out the lovely old town hall!” said another. “Here I am in the alt stadt!”

Of Bamberg. The guy was smack dab in the middle of Rauchbier paradise and I was not.

I could feel the anger build inside of me. Jealousy seethed through my veins and if I’d just been given an injection of malice. Why was I not in Bamberg enjoying a fine Rauchbier or 10?! Who was this guy to have all the fun?! I want to go to the Schlenkerla brewery and drink a Rauchbier while dining on a Bamberg Onion yet there I was, sitting at home leading a life of quiet desperation.

Someday I will go there and I too shall walk along the river Regnitz. I too shall stroll the alt stadt and stop in at Schlenkerla where I will suckle at the oaken teat of life, to be nourished by its Rauchbier. But until that day comes, I must make do with the Rauchbier presented to me.

In Bamberg, I believe there are 2 breweries that specialize in Rauchbier: the aforementioned Schlenkerla and Spezial. It is my understanding that some of the other breweries in town also brew one although they make a variety of other styles that lack smokiness. Here in Madison we have zero breweries that specialize in Rauchbier but, thankfully, there are brewers around that will occasionally deviate from the hazy, fruity norm and whip up a batch of smoky beer.

One such brewery is Working Draft. It seems like they brew a smoke beer of some kind 2 or 3 times a year. While I’ve seen their Rauch Helles mentioned before, I’d never actually tried it until recently. One time Isthmus beer scribe Robin Shepard even tweeted at me that it was on tap and I dutifully put it on my to-do list but, sadly, never got around to heading down to the brewery to give it a go. My suspicion is that it’s made in fairly small batches and that the brewers at Working Draft drink most of it. I mean, if Clint Lohman, his minions, and a few epicurean customers weren’t the only ones enjoying it, you’d think it'd be brewed more often.

The most recent batch was canned. I am unsure if previous batches were but I suspect not. This made things easier for me and I was totally unsurprised to find several 4-packs in the cooler as if I was the first to purchase the stuff. The bottom of the can noted that the beer was canned on 6/15/22 so it was quite fresh.

Smoked Helles poured a gorgeous light gold. (Or was it a deep yellow?) It was clear as day and topped with a modest head of loose, white foam that lasted what I think of as an average amount of time. There was a smattering of bubbles inside. The aroma got me drooling with its luscious smokiness which was accompanied by bread, a faint honeyed sweetness, and just a hint of spicy hops.

That first sip revealed a good, firm fizz before my tongue was awash in a sea of smoke. I am not sure, but it tasted like the traditional German beechwood smoke. The medium-light body also had some tasty bread flavor with spicy hops underneath. It had a firm astringency which gave it some bite. On the finish, the bready taste faded quickly but the smokiness lingered a short time before the hops added more of that spiciness with green notes that made for a firm bitterness and a pretty dry finish.

A friend of mine who has been making beer in the craft beer industry for a long time has sung the praises of Working Draft's lagering capabilities. "If you see their lager, you know it's going to be good," he once remarked. I agree. They have an excellent Rauchbier on their hands. There's smokiness in spades yet the bready and hoppy tastes get their due. It's clean and crisp and the savory malt flavors take center stage. My only gripe here is that I wish it was a little more smooth with less of an acidic bite. But this does not diminish the beer's deliciousness.

The light body is perfect for our summer weather so, when autumn arrives and it gets cooler outside, methinks we deserve a Rauch Festbier.

Junk food pairing: At 4.7% A.B.V, this is a fairly sessionable beer and I suggest pairing it with your 3 course junk food meal. Start with a bag of sour plum potato chips for your Vorspeise. The main course will be pork rinds with a bacon horseradish dip. (Heluva Good! makes a fine dip of this flavor.) For dessert, serve up a big slice of Dr. Pepper cake. You will find that Smoked Helles is the perfect complement to every one of these fine comestibles.