Local smoked malt, used for whisky, what to brew with it?

Hi,

There is a local distillery that malts their own barley, and they smoke it with both cherrywood and applewood. I think this malt would make an awesome scottish ale. He is able to sell or exchange some for me.

I have no idea what the SRM nor Lovibond his malt would have, nor how strong the smoke flavor would be.

My original idea was to make a wee heavy, but now I am thinking maybe I brew a 60 Shilling with only his malt (he has both 2-row and 6-row), to give me an idea of what flavor/color should I expect with his malt, and then go full on with either a rye beer or a wee heavy.

Any thoughts?

Stouts + smoked malt + good Irish Ale yeast = bliss

There's also the Rauchbier thing.

Would be perfect for 1-gallon tests. As long as the smoking amount is relatively consistent from batch to batch at the distillery ...

I like stouts, but somehow I feel the black malts and their burnt/acrid acidity would not help me asses the nature of the smoke malt itself and would get lost.

Even thought they don't care much about their malting process efficiency, I would still expect some level of uniformity on their malt.

I'd make a grain tea to get an idea of what it's going to do, then make a SMaSH or at least a single malt beer to confirm it. Local ingredients are always the best.