Lafayette Copper Top Rauch Bier

Date: 04/26/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub

clear amber, headless, smoked aroma with underlying caramel sweetness, thin body, lots of smoke flavor well balanced with caramel malt sweetness, not much character other the sweet and smoke,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

Pours red with a minor head. Very smoky, with some caramel qualities. The first beer I’ve had that ties really well with steak. Simply melts together perfectly!

Draft sampler at LBC. Yep, just lke that doggie treat commercial: it’s got the great taste of BACON! But I guess that’s what I’ve come to expect in most smoked beer, so I thought it was okay. Light coppery color. Seems to be a smoked built on a regular ale base. I found it to be nice and mild, but I think it’d be much improved if they could hang it on a more distinct base beer style. I’ve got more Lafayette beers to comment on, but first, a pause for my 900th rating...

Draught during my Great Lakes region brew tour. This pours, well, copper with a tall white head. Thin sweet caramel nose w/minimal smoke. Upon sipping this brew, I discovered much more smoke in the flavor and a definite resemblance to bacon. The hops are very minimal. This is a solid representation of a rauch, though nothing really exciting. After I had completed taking notes and was merely polishing off the rest of the glass, the bartender asked me if I thought it tasted like bacon. "Took the words right out of my mouth," I thought. Then she explained that the bartenders were discouraged to describe this beer as having a meat flavor. Oh well. I liked it well enough.

On tap at LBC. This beer formed a small sized white head that was creamy and smooth and contained fine-small sized bubbles that completely diminished. There was soft carbonation observed with a transparent bodyand a light brown hue. This beer had a malty, smokey and hoppy aroma. This beer tasted smokey which wasnt' too appealing to me and hence I was turned off with this beer. The lacing was fair.

This draft brew from the brewery poured a small head of finely sized white colored mostly lasting bubbles that left behind a good lacing. The body was softly carbonated and light orange brown colored. It had a mild smoky aroma and a smooth mild smoky palate that combined to give the smoke malt flavor mix an off taste that did not seem to mix well.