Church-Key Holy Smoke

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

Dark brown. Minimal but lasting head. Smoke and sharp peat aroma. Burnt sugar and, what I would have to guess as, peat flavour. A nice beer with a bit of spice at the finish.

Certainly smells smokey, almost meaty. Deep chocolate colour, creamy toffee head. Smoke, peat, and smoked sausage flavour, with burnt malt. A bit watery. An interesting addition for Church Key. Interesting!

Bouteille de 341 ml achetée directement à la brasserie. Arôme: Odeur fumé et de cacao. Apparence: La couleur est brune opaque avec une moyenne densité de bulle. Pésence d’un mince col mousseux et d’une large dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de caramel et de petits fruits confits. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture légèrement crémeuse. Faible effervescence en bouche. Légère présence de terre en arrière goût. (Rating #696)

Draught @ Volo. Rich opaque black with thick, creamy tan head. Lovely aroma of chicory, potato skin. Very earthy with dark cereal grains. Very soft mouthfeel is creamy and velvety. Peaty flavors are subtle and integrated. Most of the smoke emerges in the beginning and then yield to mild, whiskey or sherry barrel high notes. Relatively short-lived but well-structured palate. Highly drinkable and smooth, a peaty yum yum beer.

Bottle. Dark reddish amber colour with a nice white head. Aroma of chocolate and very little hints of smoke. Nice fine flavour of malt, sweetness and someway easy to drink for a smoke beer.

[1324-20080503] Tap. Smoky wooden roasted malt aroma. Dark dark brown body with a medium-lasting bubbly light brown head. More smoky sweet wooden malt in the flavour with a hint of chocolate. Medium-full body. Drinkable, interesting.
(@ Church Key; Campbellford, ON)

Time for a re-rate on one of my first ratings. When this beer is on, that is fresh and full of flavour, it is one of my favourite Ontario Micro’s. It has tons of peat smoke in aroma, the body is that of an old style porter, it has tons of rich, smoked malt flavour, again all peat, and there is a lovely lingering bitterness. I can, and have, drank these all night. But consistently has always been a problem and this year I have found the bottles and the tap versions to be very disappointing. I’ve long been a champion of these guys and I hope they can regain some of the consistency that made them my favourite Ontario microbrewer. My rating will be an average of my bottles/pints over the past 2 years.

Bottle: Smoked malt aroma. Pours a reddish-brown that is basically transparent when held to the light. Quick sweetness at the front is followed by a real big smoke finish. Some light bitterness. Smokey flavor lasts moderately into the aftertaste.