Samuel Adams Bonfire Rauchbier

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company in Boston, Massachusetts
Purchased: Single bottle (12oz) from Sam Adam's Harvest fall mix-pack purchased in Chicago, IL; 2011
Style/ABV: Smoked/Rauchbier, 5.7%

Continuing onward with the Sam Adam's Harvest fall mix-pack, tonight I am knocking out the Bonfire Rauchbier. Bonfires and rauchbiers make you think about smoke, Oktoberfest, and autumn. 

Rauchbier is an old German style of beer dating back to the 1500s. Green malts are dried over an open fire of Beech wood to impart a smokey flavor. The Beech wood smoked malt is used in this beer to create a Märzen-style amber lager. According to the BJCP, the smoke character of the malt varies and some breweries produce their own smoked malt. The word "rauch" is German for smoke, so a Rauchbier is a "smoke beer." Drinking beer has truly bolstered my cultural knowledge...anyway, here is the review. 

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Samuel Adams Bonfire Rauchbier

The beer pours with a nice 2-finger tan head (not apparent in picture because the glass barely fits 12oz of beer). The head has thin bubbles. The color of the beer is a nice amber-brown-copper-rust color. There is mdoerate carbonation, and the beer is super transparent and filtered.

There's a lot of smoke, bacon, bacon-grease, meats, sweet caramel, malt, and some hints of wood for good measure. The sweet malts impart a sort of smokey aroma that could be interpreted as a pull towards fruit. Overall, the aroma is a nice balance of smoke with sweet malt. It's not overpowering in either direction.

The front of the palate is a blast of smokey bacon, bacon grease, and sweet malts. There is a really assertive smoke-meat flavor up front, but it balances nicely with the sweet malt. I'm tasting lots of sweet caramel, malt, smoke, bacon, bacon grease, lager yeasts, and other cured meats.

This is medium-light, and maybe on the lighter side of what you might expect for the style. There is a good lager yeast profile to this beer, and a nice balance of malt and smoke. This has moderate to low complexity, and moderate to low depth on the palate. The mouthfeel is carbonated, smokey and meaty, and drinkable. Moderate carbonation, smoke, sweet malts, and some bacon dominate the front of your palate. This rolls into smoke, meat, and sweet malt on the middle. This beer finishes with smoke and meat on the back end.

 

Rating: Above-Average

Score: 76%

 

Flirting with Above-Average and Average, this beer wins because it is balanced and has that nice lager yeast backdrop. This is a solid fall beer, and would be an appropriate accompaniment for that fall barbecue.

I've had a couple of smoked beers now, and I've decided that meat is a prominent flavor you get with the style. Okay, I dig. This isn't an everyday beer, but I can imagine this beer would hit the spot if you were in the mood. A good execution of the style, not overpowering, and fun. Recommended.