A puff of smoke

For a couple of weeks this autumn, I lived in a city with two Rauchbier breweries.

No, I didn’t move to Bamberg, but both West and Drygate launched a smoked Märzen around the same time. The two breweries are only a short distance apart, so even in pandemic times it was relatively easy to try both at the source.

West’s Rauchbier is part of a set – its companion, which is just called Märzen, is the same beer with unsmoked malt. Rauchbier is caramelly and lightly smoky – more influenced by Spezial than Schlenkerla. It is slightly phenolic which is a note common to many beers brewed with the smoked malt from Weyermann’s maltings. I should like it to be a bit more chewy, a bit more smoky and a bit less fizzy. On the whole, though, it is very drinkable. 

Drygate’s effort, Astro Zombies, in common with the rest of its range, has a silly name. But never mind that. It’s much more expensive and much less fizzy, so you don’t have to beat the excess gas out of it with a spoon like you do with West beers. It’s deep copper in colour and the aroma is slighty fruity and immediately smoky. The wood smoke aroma is rich and satisfying, the malt body full and sweet with a surprisingly bitter finish. 

Glasgow has two smoked lagers and life is better for it.

Postscript: While innocently going for a curry, I noticed this illuminated billboard:

Whether you like the advert or not, it leaves me wondering whether this might be the largest advertising campaign ever mounted for Rauchbier anywhere in the world.