Church-Key Holy Smoke

Brewed by Church-Key Brewing
Style: Smoked
Pethericks Corners, Canada

On tap at Volo. Pours a dark brown with a slight reddish tinge and small white head. Aroma is smoky although not overwhelmingly so, with a distinct maltiness. Flavour again is moderately smoky with some caramel malt and nuttiness. Hadn’t had this in a few years and it wasn’t as smoky as I remembered. But all in all a pleasant cool weather drink.

On tap at Cafe Volo
After meeting up with jerc we ended up at Cafe Volo for a few beers. This was my first choice and while not as smoky as I had hoped turned out decently. If you like your smoked beers low key this will work. Pass if you must have that over the top cigarette ash on the back of the throat.

Aroma / Appearance - Deep maroon or burgundy it glowed in the afternoon light. Some carbonation was evident but not much. A hint of smoke was a tease along with chewy malt. Overall though it was a it weaker than I expected.

Flavor / Palate - Sweet cherry pie was not an anticipated experience but made the little bit of smokiness more pronounced. This tastes kind of like a marshmellow which has been scraped across the grill just long enough to blacken but no longer. Again a little more kick would be nice but because the scotch aspect is such quality it gets a bit of a pass.

Growler: Pours a ruby brown with no real head. Aroma is campfire smoke, chocolate malt tones. Body was very soft and flat. Very low carbonation... Flavour had some good smokiness with some light coffee tones and caramel/chocolate maltiness.

On tap at the brewery. Appearance: Nice dark brown almost black and a light brown head. Aroma: Nice and smoky, lots of malt and whiskey, delicious! Flavour: Again malty with smoke and peat, lots of chocolate, nice medium body and a lovely warming smoke finish.

This is a nicely put together brew. The smoke is balanced with the malt, and neither is overpowering. From a personal preference, I’d like a bit more malt, and have the smoke lingering in the background, rather than the foreground. A really underrated brew.

On tap from Volo. poured a dark, roast color. Strong bacon and fire aromas (im not lying). the best way to describe this beer is passing out drunk by a campfire and waking up to taste the shirt you passed out in.

Pint at Volo - this is smooth and tasty! Just a hint of smoked whiskey malt character that underlines the sweetness and soft fine hops. Good stuff, don’t be afraid of this one.

Pours a dark brown with a thin white ring of foam. Aroma is very meaty, smoky and savoury. Add to this the sweetness of the malt, and the taste is not unlike a sweet cured ham, pineapple, cloves and all. Good carbonation, body is rather chewy for the style - not bad! Probably one of the more quaffable beers of this style. Thanks to Robin for the trade!