Church-Key Holy Smoke

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

On Tap At Bow and Arrow. A real one beer at a time drink. Smoky aroma and beautiful blackness. Nice smoky malt flavour that sits on the tongue. A good ale when you’re having just one.

Deep brown body with a fading, minimal tan head. Aroma has the smoke up front but some nice, sweet dark caramel maltiness underneath. Sweet, malty scotch flavor with nicely integrated smokiness and notes of chocolate and butterscotch. Good, smoked mild scotch ale.

On tap at Bar Volo. Appearance is a very dark brown with an average frothy off-white head. Good lacing. Aroma is pleasantly smoky with caramel malt and hops. Flavour is a lightly acidic combination of smoke, caramel malt, light hops and a touch of scotch that really works. This beer is even better on tap than in the bottle in my opinion as the smoke flavour comes through much more. This is very good and my favourite Smoked beer.

Draught At Smokeless Joe (previously at C’Est What, BeerBistro, and Volo). Dark - but not dark enough. Nice smoke aroma and flavour - but not enough. First time I had it was shortly after it came out and it was more potent, thicker, smokier. The current incarnation (I’ve had it in the bottle, it’s even weaker) needs more body. This is the sort of beer that should pour in clumps! Still very drinkable, though, like every Church Key beer I’ve ever tried.

Dark brown beer with a thin dark brown head. Massive smoky aroma which tastes like hickory and mesquite, not the usual beechwood. Flavour is much more subdued than the aroma, showing loads of sweet fruit, blackberry, cherry, plum, and brown sugar. Sweet and full bodied. Creamy texture. Great stuff.

A very unique brew, with a lovely smokey nose, and a very peaty taste. Not a beer that you could have a real session with, but very much worth a try.

Pours with off white head. Very dark and opaque but tilted to the light it has a deep ruby color. Initial bitterness gives way to sweet malt with hint of smoke. Cheers!

Bottle: Poured a black color ale with medium head with very little retention. Aroma is lightly smoked with some strong malt. Taste is quite enjoyable, almost like a mix between a light scotch ale with some notes of malt a little bit of smoke. As previously mentioned in past rating, body is a bit thin and I’m not sure this should be considered a smoke ale since there is very little smoke in this.