Church-Key Holy Smoke

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

Thin, smoky caramel aroma. Opaque black with very retiscent tan head that diminishes completely. Lightly smoky. Slight licorice flavour. Roasted malts floating in the background. Thin, still body. Bottle (sampled at Mondial 2004).

This arrived as a bonus for CaptainCougar but half the bottle had leaked out and the cap came off with little effort. Poured a very dark brown with a ruby hue. Aroma of smoke, sweat malt, peaty, grapes. Malty but dry along from front to back. Light smoke in the flavor. Pretty flat but expected since half leaked out (no point deduction for that). Thin body.

More roast than smoke, like a stout, Thats good. Much carbonation, however. New formulation? Some fruitiness and malt made it balanced.. Surprisingly enjoyable directly form them at the 2004 St. Lawrence fest.

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.

Smokey but not to much like some smoked beers are. I liked. It was drinkable, brownish beer wit neat head.

2008-05-03. Very dark brown not quite black body with decent creamy beige head. (3+) Aroma of mild peat smoke accented malt, sweet underlying character with light coffee-mocha hints. Flavour has less of the smokey peat than I recall, bringing into levels that are not nearly as dominant as in many other smoked beers - to its benefit in my opion. The peat plays nicely with a malty base that has hints of coffee roast underlying it. Average to medium bodied palate.(3+) Less assertive but more quaffable than I recall. Considering I typically hate smoke with a passion, I suppose thats pretty complimentary! 7/4/7/3/13 - 3.4 On tap at the brewery, Spring Revival <P>August 2003. Bottle. Blackout Beer #2! Roastiness and smoke in the aroma. Slight chocolaty notes at times. Dark ruby colour with a thin tan head. Bottle might have been a bit off. Will have to re-rate at some point. 5/3/5/3/11 - 2.7

(Draught) Served ICE cold at the Lounge in Picton, Ontario. Pours a nice almond head with an opaque black body. Near odorless at this temperature; slight mellow malt. Flavours of smooth, fair sweetness with slight roast malt. Clean finish. Surprisingly light. Very enjoyable!

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.