Ballast Point Abandon Ship Smoked Lager

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

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.

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.

22oz bottle tasted at J&J’s Friday the 13th tasting. I’m very impressed. Nice and smokey. Nice body. Light background homebrewish sweetness. I really like it. Like sitting at a campfire. Very easy to drink. I worry about a beer like this going to into production and becoming drier. I really like it the way it is.

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.

Clear copper colored body. Light honey and chewy caramel malt nose, moderately sweet. Very light notes of toasted bread, very light smoke noticed, but pleasant nonetheless. Rich, full, vinous texture, pleasant charred toast and crusty grains, some unbaked dough and granola picked up. Very smooth and full, a well-made helles style beneath the very mild smoke, I like this one a lot.

The aroma is of smoke, soapy sweetness, chocolate. The pour is dark brown with a thinnish head. The flavor is soapy sweet, chocolate, caramel, and soft smokey salt. Was actually kind of creamy and very smooth with a nice crisp/clean finish. Enjoyable.

From a growler; poured a brownish color with a large light brown head. Aroma of smoke, chocolate, toast, flowers and soap. Very drinkable for the style; a nice smokiness. I actually liked this one alot. Some cocoa, bread, burnt toast, and oats. I really think this one is fairly underrated. Quite a surprise.

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.