Can you get used/accustomed to smoked beer?

[SipalayBrew]

Hello and Happy new year everyone,

I recently brewed a smoked wheat beer (bottled on Dec. 26), using 40% Weyermann smoked wheat, along with 45% pils malt and 5% biscuit.
The beer tastes great, but it seems the smokiness is less and less palpable day after day! My wife says she can still feel it, but I can only feel the usual freshness/fruitiness of the wheat and the smokiness now seems almost imperceptible.

Now I know smoked wheat's smokiness is very subtle, but is it possible that I'm getting accustomed to smokiness to the point I can feel it anymore?

Thank you for reading!

 

[Witherby]

https://allaboutbeer.com/article/schlenkerla-marzen-rauchbier/

Matthias Trum is the maker of the world’s most famous rauchbier—Bamberg, Germany’s Schlenkerla—and he has some advice. “If you’re new to the taste you will notice nothing but the smoked flavor,” he acknowledges. “Only as you go through your first two or three pints does the smokiness step back in perception. So the second Schlenkerla is for you, the first time drinker, a different beverage than the first one. And yet the third one is different than the second one. From the third one on, you have the system running, so to say.”

 

[SipalayBrew]

https://allaboutbeer.com/article/schlenkerla-marzen-rauchbier/

Matthias Trum is the maker of the world’s most famous rauchbier—Bamberg, Germany’s Schlenkerla—and he has some advice. “If you’re new to the taste you will notice nothing but the smoked flavor,” he acknowledges. “Only as you go through your first two or three pints does the smokiness step back in perception. So the second Schlenkerla is for you, the first time drinker, a different beverage than the first one. And yet the third one is different than the second one. From the third one on, you have the system running, so to say.”

Exactly!

To be more precise, I'd say that I feel the smokiness "blends" with the wheat into a single (rich) flavor, a flavor somehow close to amber ale, where you can't really distinguish which aspect comes from the wheat and which from the smoke.

 

[jdauria]

That first pint of a smoked beer is like sensorily overload to the palate, but it seems that with each pint after that, the palate/our minds are like oh yeah, I remember this. Made a rauchbier last year that with my first pour, I was nope, I used way to smoked malt, but after a few more pints, I could notice the malt background and thought the smoke level, which was something like 25% was perfect. It wound up winning a bunch of medals and was one of my highest scoring beers with a 45 in a few comps.

Have a Grodziskie, a Polish oat smoked wheat beer cold crashing...while oat smoked malt is not as strong as beechwood smoked malt, it's 100% smoked malt recipe. I am sure I will go through the whole process over again thinking it's bad on first pint to great by the 4th pint!

 

[wepeeler]

I say absolutely. I hated smoked beer until I found one I enjoyed. Then I brewed one using a recipe from a local brewery that printed the recipe in the Modern Lager Beer book, and I love it. It's in my top 3 homebrews I've ever made.

Counterweight Drudenhaus

 

[worlddivides]

Definitely. I love all things smoked. Smoked meats. Smoked fish. Smoked cheese. Smoked nuts. And on and on forever. I love all kinds of smoked beer and I typically find the smokiness very restrained and in the background. But the Yeastie Boys maximally peated beer they made (xeRRex, I believe it was) blew me away at the first taste and I was like "Yikes, I'm not sure I like this," but after I drank the whole thing, it was like a lot of acquired tastes where I wanted more. I used to hate Islay whiskeys. I still don't love them, but I grew to appreciate them. Peat is probably my least favorite thing to smoke with, but even I grew to enjoy it. I guess it could also be compared to spicy stuff in that once you get used to really spicy things, mildly spicy things that someone else might find way too spicy aren't really that spicy to you.

 

[AzOr]

Some of it will depend on the type of wood that was used in the smoking process. Beechwood, oak and fruit woods are all very different and the recommendation from the maltster will also vary, as far as usage.

I love all that is smoked. However when it comes to meat, my wife complains of “ashtray” in certain foods. I think I have narrowed it to oak and oak blends. I, of course do not pick that up.

 

[MaxStout]

I'm generally a fan of All Things Smoked, though peat/phenolic is not a favorite. I was gifted a bottle of Laphroaig 10 once, and it was only an occasional treat for me. Don't hate it, but never got to loving it, either.

But give me a Bamberg-style Rauchbier, Grodziskie, etc., anytime. I just picked up a few bottles of Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche. Yum.

 

[wepeeler]

Some of it will depend on the type of wood that was used in the smoking process. Beechwood, oak and fruit woods are all very different and the recommendation from the maltster will also vary, as far as usage.

I love all that is smoked. However when it comes to meat, my wife complains of “ashtray” in certain foods. I think I have narrowed it to oak and oak blends. I, of course do not pick that up.

Very true. Beechwood smoked beer is excellent. Oak smoked beer is horrible. IMO.

 

[AzOr]

Very true. Beechwood smoked beer is excellent. Oak smoked beer is horrible. IMO.

Yes and I’ve come across many recipes that call for just smoked malt.

Steinbart’s, a lhbs in Portland used to have diff types of smoked malt in little jars so you could give them a good sniff.

 

[cfrazier77]

Become a fire fighter and your smoke receptors will get blown out in short order. Just kidding, but after 20 years of doing it as a volunteer I can barely smell smoke in beers and food compared to other people.

 

[Miraculix]

https://allaboutbeer.com/article/schlenkerla-marzen-rauchbier/

Matthias Trum is the maker of the world’s most famous rauchbier—Bamberg, Germany’s Schlenkerla—and he has some advice. “If you’re new to the taste you will notice nothing but the smoked flavor,” he acknowledges. “Only as you go through your first two or three pints does the smokiness step back in perception. So the second Schlenkerla is for you, the first time drinker, a different beverage than the first one. And yet the third one is different than the second one. From the third one on, you have the system running, so to say.”

Never managed to go past the first sips of the first one. Just disgusting.

Already thinking about having three whole glasses of that bewitched brew feels like torture.

No, good sir!

 

[jrgtr42]

Having tried them on and off over the years, I've never developed a tasted for the heavily smoked beers, the rauchbiers. I don;t mind a touch of smoke in there, especially porters and stouts, things like Jack's Abby's Smoke and Dagger, Sierra Nevada/s Tumbler, and so on.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

The first smoked beer I had was Alaskan Smoked Porter. What a nice beer. I can't drink pint after pint but it's good.

 

[Witherby]

Never managed to go past the first sips of the first one. Just disgusting.

Already thinking about having three whole glasses of that bewitched brew feels like torture.

No, good sir!

Germans in general are the least knowledgeable about the beauty of German beers in all their wonderful variety!

 

[Witherby]

Sorry to put that so bluntly @Miraculix, but since the Germans are among the most direct people in the world (another broad generalization!) I hope you don't mind.

I traveled to Bamberg for my 50th birthday in part so I could visit Schlenkerla, so I am biased about Rauchbier!

 

[MaxStout]

We're discussing traveling to Germany to visit friends there. Bamberg is only a few hours away and I told my wife I would like to do a side trip for a couple days. She said, "You just want to go drink beer!"

Why, yes. Yes I do.

 

[leedspointbrew]

We're discussing traveling to Germany to visit friends there. Bamberg is only a few hours away and I told my wife I would like to do a side trip for a couple days. She said, "You just want to go drink beer!"

Why, yes. Yes I do.

Honesty is always the best policy.

 

[Miraculix]

Sorry to put that so bluntly @Miraculix, but since the Germans are among the most direct people in the world (another broad generalization!) I hope you don't mind.

I traveled to Bamberg for my 50th birthday in part so I could visit Schlenkerla, so I am biased about Rauchbier!

No problem, your actually correct. I've just learned that we have a German porter history in the east and most people don't know anything accept Pils and Hefeweizen.

 

[ntempleton]

I traveled to Bamberg for my 50th birthday in part so I could visit Schlenkerla, so I am biased about Rauchbier!

I hope you went to Spezial as well. IMO, their RauchBier is much, much better.

 

[Knightshade]

We're discussing traveling to Germany to visit friends there. Bamberg is only a few hours away and I told my wife I would like to do a side trip for a couple days. She said, "You just want to go drink beer!"

Why, yes. Yes I do.

This tracks. Going on a cruise later this year that is leaving out of Southampton and some in our group are wondering how to fill up empty spots in the sightseeing itinerary. My response was "Pubs...beer. Done."

 

[Kornssj]

Glad i read this. Getting ready to make my first Rauchbier here soon and will try and cleanse my palette in between beers.

 

[Brewer dad]

Yeah I really enjoy smoked foods, so figured I’d like Rauchbier. Didn’t hate it, but wasn’t sure I’d want five gallons of it sitting around either. To be fair I rarely am able visit places that stock these types of beers, and I’ve noticed often they are past their best by date. So I suspect between that and their journey here they are not in their ideal condition.

I picked up the Dark Lagers book by Weyermann and Dornbusch a few months ago, and there are several smoked beer recipes in there. Among them are some with generally lower percentages of smoked malt, so I might use one of those for inspiration. Something like 15-20% Beechwood seems like a good starting point.

My eye goes to the “Dunkelrauchdoppelbock” recipe, but my palette says it’s not ready.

 

[DuncB]

This is a gentle smoked beer but I've enjoyed both batches so far.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

No.


the end

 

[worlddivides]

Glad i read this. Getting ready to make my first Rauchbier here soon and will try and cleanse my palette in between beers.

The Weyermann beech-smoked malt is actually pretty mild compared to a lot of other smoked malts. Rauchbier is often brewed with 100% beech-smoked malt, but on the other hand, just a few percent of peat-smoked malt can be absolutely potent. I have some peat-smoked malt and I'm thinking of just having 2-3% of the grain bill be the peat-smoked malt with the rest normal Pilsner malt for a smoked Helles. I made a smoked oatmeal stout last year that was 76% Weyermann beech-smoked malt and, while it was an excellent beer, I felt it could use more smokiness.

 

[sembola]

While totally plausible that, as @Witherby reports, our brain "adjusts" with experience, I believe that smokiness can fade with time.

I generally like smoked foods, so when at a beer festival I tasted Rauchbier from Bamberg I was pretty disappointed, it was really "too much" for me. The year before I had tasted a Grodziskie and I had liked very much, yes I know they are very different beers but I'm referring to the "smokiness" alone.

So last february I tried making the latter, 100% oak smoked wheat and some saaz. "Just enough" smokiness, present but not overwhelming and complementing the taste of wheat, one of my best beers so far.

I've been away (in Belgium BTW, so I did not miss my beers ) three months, and now I find my Querciarossa (red oak) more subdued, as if the smokiness had somewhat faded away. Still pleasant, still refreshing but not as balanced as at first tastings.

 

[Halfakneecap]

Definitely. I love all things smoked. Smoked meats. Smoked fish. Smoked cheese. Smoked nuts. And on and on forever. I love all kinds of smoked beer and I typically find the smokiness very restrained and in the background. But the Yeastie Boys maximally peated beer they made (xeRRex, I believe it was) blew me away at the first taste and I was like "Yikes, I'm not sure I like this," but after I drank the whole thing, it was like a lot of acquired tastes where I wanted more. I used to hate Islay whiskeys. I still don't love them, but I grew to appreciate them. Peat is probably my least favorite thing to smoke with, but even I grew to enjoy it. I guess it could also be compared to spicy stuff in that once you get used to really spicy things, mildly spicy things that someone else might find way too spicy aren't really that spicy to you.

I played around with peated distillers malt in a few dark beers for a while. Really added a very pleasant "open grave" character. I liked it, but its a distinct flavour.

 

[worlddivides]

I played around with peated distillers malt in a few dark beers for a while. Really added a very pleasant "open grave" character. I liked it, but its a distinct flavour.

It is. While I absolutely adore smoked foods and drinks across the board, peat is still one that I go back and forth between kind of liking and kind of hating. It can be really awesome when you're in the mood for it and it's done right.

 

[Snuffy]

I played around with peated distillers malt in a few dark beers for a while. Really added a very pleasant "open grave" character. I liked it, but its a distinct flavour.

I have to compliment you here on the imaginative description "pleasant open grave". Not only does that nail the sense of earthiness, it makes a darn good name for a doom metal song.