Weyerbacher Fireside Ale

Brewed by Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Style: Smoked
Easton, Pennsylvania USA

Pours a transparent dark mahogany with a well-lacing light beige head. Aroma has nice smoky peaty notes and sweet dark caramel maltiness. Body starts with pleasant fullness and caramely malt with a good, authentic smoky character throughout that lingers long into the finish. A nicely-balanced and enjoyable rauchbier.

20090203 12oz bottle, 4-pk from JR in Brielle. Brown color with small but lasting off white head. Sweet malty aroma, nice earthiness, dark cherry, and soft, sour smoke notes. Full body up front but fades rapidly and fades to a quick but thin bitter ending. Mild smoke throughout, lots of leafy, swampy earth, brine, spruce, and woody rosemary. It never really comes together for me, but the parts are nice enough to keep it drinkable.

Bottle. Pours a darkish brown with a one finger head. Aromas are heavy with brown sugar malt (very little smoke), nuts and earth. Flavor is about the same... it’s a malt and sweet heavy beer that leaves me wondering how on earth this is called a smoked beer. I can only pick up a little bit of earthiness, but anything smoked is hard to find.

Bottle courtesy of fishingnet. Pours a thin cola brown with small white head that settles rapidly to nothing. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of cooked veggies, raisins, ripe fruit, nuts, some hints of smoke and wood. Flavor is somewhat malty and smoky with sweet notes, ripe dark fruit, some hints of caramel and nuts. Generally medium body with a malty and smoky finish.

12oz bottle from Sam’s, Durham. Slightly dusky brown pour, with moderate carbonation and a fairly inactive body. Soft fruit notes in the nose, with some malts and only a trace of smoke. Fairly lively flavor, like a brown ale with some moxie, and the smoke emerges somewhat more as the beer warms. Still very modest though, which is a shame, because the ale doesn’t have quite enough character as is.

Dark brown pour with a decent tan head. Some lacing. Sweet malty aroma with a slightly smoky background. The flavor is earthy bitter with the smoke coming on slightly at first but more and more as the beer warms. I’d like it to be even smokier but it’s not bad as it is.

This poured a murky dark brown with an off white head. Aroma was really mlaty grains and a small hint of smoke. Flavor was really rich malts, some roastedness and enough smoke to know its there, but nnot enough to be considered a "smoked" IMHO.

Pours a nice mahogany into the glass, with a thin cap that leaves soapy lace. The nose has some smoked peat and vegetal campfire essence. Roasted sweet malts begin the flavor, some smoke enters mid-palate, with some earthy bitters and a return to vegetal notes in the finish. I think this is well put together enough, with decent carbonation levels and a lightly oily mouthfeel, albeit it a tad thin. The smoky vegetal effervescence lingers well, long after the end of the pull. Regarding the style, it carries enough smoke and roasts for consideration, but I almost believe that an herb/vegetable/spice category would have been just as appropriate.