Black Forest Campfire Ale

Brewed by Black Forest Brew Haus
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Farmingdale, New York USA

Tap at BF. Aroma of campfire smoke (hey, that’s pretty cool how they worked that one), sweet, bread-crust malt. Flavor has some roasted, salty nuts with smoked earth and returns to a campfire finish. Though the smoke was not overpowering as it is with some smoked beers, it was definitely the highlight of the beer for me, not the pine that many others have gotten. Would never have guessed this would be classified as S/H/V. Regardless of all my needless commentary, I really liked this one.

On tap at the brewpub. Pours a dark clear brown with a small white head. Aroma of light smoke and some sweet malt. Flavor is more smoky and I also get some peat moss. If not for the odd peat moss notes and general spices, I think I really would have liked this one a lot. 6/4/6/3/14 (3.3/5)

Deep red with a cream like head. Flavor and aroma were both pretty smoky and earthy. Are we sure this is a Spice/Herb/Vegetable and not a Smoked? Very little pine in the flavor, but there is a myriad of other spices in it.

Tap at the Brewpub: Deep brown pour with a ruby hue. The head faded to a beige ring. The nose is pretty smoky. Not meaty, but earthy with some mild caramelized malt character. Also has a mild herbal character. The body is nice and creamy, with an herbal flavor. Tons of lavender and violet. The malt base gives it a chewy body and a balancing sweetness. Light smoke notes come through when it warms, but the violet seems to dominate the brew; especially in the finish. A very interesting and distinct Ale, and I like to see Brewpubs brewing original offerings, such as this.

Poured a very dark chestnut with an off-white head. The aroma smooth smoke and sweet caramel malt. The flavor matches with sweet caramel and nice smoke. A little on the sweet side but not too bad. Clean light body.

Tap at the brewpub - first of all, I’m pretty sure that this beer is a lager - hair-splitting aside, let’s get to the brew - dark brown with a reddish tint and a small but lasting head - the aroma is full of pine/spruce, tree sap, some gentle smoky character - I give them props for being crazy enough to actually steep their old Christmas tree in the beer, but the result is a brew dominated by spruce flavor - some mild sweet/tart fruity interpay is there, and the smoky component augments the wood, and makes it work somewhat - however, the overwhelming pine keeps this from being more enjoyable.

After watching a dozen or so cars slide off the road on a snowy Long Island day, there’s nothing like curling up next to a campfire, to make you feel better... okay, cheesy jokes aside, this is a dark brown beer with a thin tan head. The aroma is quite smokey with a fairly prominent rauchmalt component over some light spiciness as well. Flavour is initially softly smokey and is quickly followed by a very woody/resiny pine needle flavour. A bit of fruitiness but there is mostly a lightly charred/burned malt character over a load of pine character. Retronasally, it’s all pine needles. A soft dark malt sweetness helps this beer work out. Lingering fruity/piny flavour on the back. Pretty nice brew.

Pint @ brewpub on a snowy day with JoeMcphee, I think this beer was made for just such an occasion. The beer has a thick brown color with some ruby tints. Aroma is oily malts and medium-light citrus. Some rusted metal, which could be smoke-esque. Taste is WHAM in your face crazy citrus pine tree. It’s all super green and talk a walk through a forest, so natural, like. Cool stuff, never have I tasted so much pine. And I did not get all that much smoke in this.