Ballast Point Abandon Ship Smoked Lager

Brewed by Ballast Point Brewing Company
Style: Smoked
San Diego, California USA

On tap at GABF 2009. Dark brown in color with a medium off-white head. Aroma is very nice smoky bacon and roast as well as caramel malt. Flavor is roasted, smoked, BBQ-like malt, sweet caramel, and a little peat/earth. Pretty tasty and well-balanced. Medium body and carbonation.

On tap at Hamilton’s and looked like an amber color but it was so dark in there I could not be sure. The smell was a little odd but the taste was something else. It smelled a little smoky which was fine but then the flavor was like wet dog and smoke. It was like somebody soaked a dog in lager and then squeezed it into my glass, yuck. I drank it anyway. Serving type: on-tap Reviewed on: 09-22-2009 01:48:30

On tap at the San Diego Beer Party. Pretty decent for a smoked. The smoke has been turned down (a plus in my book) and you are left with a nice, medium to heavy bodied larger. well done!

Tap at CAH. Pours a translucent copper with a medium bubbly off white head. Aroma of smoked malt, caramel, nuts and earthy. Flavor of smoked meats, earthy, caramel and a little thin.

Draft at Craft, which si something I write a lot of these days. Pours dark caramel brownish wuith ruby edges and 1-finger off-white head. Nose is heavy smoked malt, hops, brown sugary BBQ sauce. Tastes rich, caramel smoky malty, with solid complexity. This one doesn;t shove the rauch down your throat like the Aecht offerings, but is more subtle. If you give this aroma less than an 8 or 9, then you quite frankly don’t understand this style.

Spices up an otherwise bland beer. I don’t get the haters - its the best Lager I’ve had in a while. Full of smoke and dry yeast notes, with a touch of sourness.

Draft at Obriens. Pours a deep dark amber with no head. Aroma of smoke and tobacco. Medium to full bodied with a nice rich texture. This may not be extreme, but I found this very balanced with flavors of wet grains, bread, smoke, and caramel. Under rated.

This hand-bottle at J&J’s was acquired in trade from TheRealBastard. Thanks for this rarity. Burnt orange color with a big bubbly head. Deep orange scent on the nose. It has the evenness in the mouth of a lager, but with a lot of flavors moving around. This is the first beer I’ve had where I tasted the flavor of bacon coming out, and not in a bad way either. Smoke, malt, and sweetness too. UPDATE: Had it on tap at Stone, and was much more impressed by the hand bottle. Go figure. Rating stands based on bottle.