Draft... Clear, very dark, crimson lager with a small, creamy, khaki head. Hickory, campfire smoke aroma. Perfectly balanced flavor with lots of BBQ smoke. Low residual sweetness and light bitterness. Medium-bodied and thin with modest carbonation.

Tap: Reddish brown with a small head and okay lacing. The aroma has notes of smoke, light meaty esters, earthy esters, caramel malts and noble hops. The taste starts with smooth malting upfront supported by light amounts of bitters and smoky overtones. The taste does sort of fade towards the end however. The feel is smooth and drinkable, a touch dry. An okay bier, not oevr-the-top, heck not much smoke really. Quaffable.

Draft @ brewery. Amber in color with a smallish head. Light aromas, in fact light everything. This is just too light to be a good rauch. Light ash and a little butterscotch.

On tap: Big smokey aroma much like a campfire. It’s a dark orangish-brown with some transparency and a small off-white head. The flavor starts with some faint sweetness (chocolate?) that quickly fades to a moderate smoked cheese finsih.

On tap at Dragonmead. Deep red-brown body, dense cream head. Distinctive smoked peat aroma. Creamy, light, peaty body, emphasizing the smoked malts. If anything, this wasn’t brave enough with the smoked characteristics. It felt too watered down.