Day 15: Smoked Pale Ale by Zack Abzug

[Scott H]

Day 15: Smoked Pale Ale by Zack Abzug

Unfortunately I have no information about this beer, so hopefully Zack can add some details here.

[Allen H]

Drinking it now. Kind of thought you may have used some herbs or something in it. I got a little fruitiness initially and a nice smoked character. Beautiful, full, long lasting head, and amazing lacing. Cheers man! Wish the recipe was available.

[klinger]

More of smoked amber than a pale ale. Quite red in color, big rich creamy head. Nice and clear. Very good balance of malt, hops, and smoke. My wife says it's her favorite so far. This is one of my favorites. Nice beer.

[spidermonk]

How did you get the smoke? Interesting flavor for sure. Very complex flavors with strong smoke

[klinger]

I'm wondering which smoked malt he used. It's definitely not peat smoked malt. Could be the German beechwood smoked rauch malt, but I'm guessing it's the Briess cherrywood smoked malt. Not sure though.

[spidermonk]

Dec 15, 2013 21:40:27 GMT -5 klinger said:

I'm wondering which smoked malt he used. It's definitely not peat smoked malt. Could be the German beechwood smoked rauch malt, but I'm guessing it's the Briess cherrywood smoked malt. Not sure though.

Its so smokey I wonder if there wasn't some additional smoke added in the form of liquid smoke. I've used the cherrywood smoked malt before in very small quantities and never detected anything like this. Plus it has that kinda artificial smoke flavor to me.

[zmabzug]

Pretty sure I sent this info to you, Scott, but:

"Hi Scott,

Sorry for the super late response, I had no idea I was sent a message! Here is the recipe/info for the smoked:

Smoked Pale Ale

6.6 lb Golden Light LME
3 lb Golden Light DME
1 lb Caramel 40L
1.75 lb Cherrywood Smoked Malt

1.5 oz Nugget @ 60m
1 oz Cluster @ 20m
1 oz Cluster @ 5m

2x White Labs East Coast Ale (WLP008)

OG: 1.075
FG: 1.023
ABV: 6.9%
IBUs expected: 40

We are both big scotch fans, so we wanted to make something smoky and strong. The smokiness smacks you in the face a little when you first pour the beer into a glass, but then fades nicely over time. The beer ended up much darker and cloudier than we anticipated (we experimented with not racking to a secondary this time). All in all, a delicious and smoky treat!"

[klinger]

I thought it was great -- not too smokey at all. Many German rauchbiers are made with 90-100% smoked malt. Lots of smoked porters are also more intense than this. I thought this was a great smoked beer. I suspect you got some extract scorching& that's why it came out darker than expected, but I liked it with that dark smokey character. I may have to try an all grain version of this.

[luukinen]

I really enjoyed this beer. The smoke was not at all apparent for me until the beer warmed, then the nice caramel sweetness and the smoke came out. I made a 100% cherrywood smoked malt beer this summer, so I picked up the cherrywood immediately in your beer. Really enjoyed this. I agree with Mark, it's more of a smoked amber, which I'm totally in support of. Triple C down in Charlotte has one that's great. Thanks for sharing this!

[bryan]

LOVED this. I am a fan if smoked anything and it was a nice surprise to find this.

Agree on the above comment that it may have tasted more smoked amber, but I thought the hops were combative enough to make me think otherwise. Honestly, I just wanted to focus on the smokey flavor, which I can see definitely works for a scotch lover.

Really glad you shared this one with us!

[Heiko R.]

I am usually not a fan of smoked beers, but after the first two sips actually ended up enjoying this. Well balanced, thanks for sharing!

Heiko

[antonia]

This is most certainly the first smoked beer that I've enjoyed. Thanks Zach! Fun contribution.