Smoke & Dagger
Jack's Abby Craft Lagers in Framingham, Massachusetts, United States 🇺🇸
Smoked / Rauchbier Regular|
Score
7.16
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Smoked Black Lager. Cloaked in Mystery, Brewed with imported Bavarian malt, smoked and roasted malts. Step Infusion mash. Traditional old world ingredients and cutting edge lagering techniques bring you this devilishly good lager. It's smooth smoky, and perfect for whatever happens in the dark of the night.
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7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
GABF 2015. Red-brown color. Smoke in the aroma and the flavor. Dry, moderately roasted malt, but fortunately the smoke is there in both the flavor and aroma even if it is not as strong as the best rauchbiers. Some chocolate and coffee, but not much of either.
Tried
on 01 Nov 2015
at 13:06
7.3/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
330 ml. bottle sampled @ “Tim’s orgasmic Trillium tasting”. Dark brown, solid mocha. Nose is rather weak, touch umami, seems to show light oxidation, rest is wood, leaves & bark, smoke is very low. Taste is lightly herbal leaves, bit thin, mellow, some mocha powder, herbs, low smoke, herbs, bark. Body feels thinned out, bit weak, not very exciting with not my favored notes. Okay overall but nowhere near on par with their Smoked Märzen. It feels like there is some possible age at play here but since the bottle is not dated, there is no way to be certain. Bit of a letdown overall.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Oct 2015
at 05:37
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Imported from my RateBeer account as Jack's Abby Smoke & Dagger (by Jack's Abby Brewing):
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 14/20, MyTotalScore: 3.4/5
16/X/15 - 12Fl. Oz. bottle @ home - BB: n/a (2015-1481) Thanks to 77ships for sharing the bottle!
Clear dark brown beer, creamy irregular beige head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: sweet, dried fruits, caramel, slightly toasted. MF: soft carbon, medium to light body. Taste: sweet, caramel, very little smoke, bit sweet, malty. Aftertaste: slightly sourish, malty, sweet, bit watery, grains, hint of chocolate.
Aroma: 7/10, Appearance: 3/5, Taste: 7/10, Palate: 3/5, Overall: 14/20, MyTotalScore: 3.4/5
16/X/15 - 12Fl. Oz. bottle @ home - BB: n/a (2015-1481) Thanks to 77ships for sharing the bottle!
Clear dark brown beer, creamy irregular beige head, little stable, non adhesive. Aroma: sweet, dried fruits, caramel, slightly toasted. MF: soft carbon, medium to light body. Taste: sweet, caramel, very little smoke, bit sweet, malty. Aftertaste: slightly sourish, malty, sweet, bit watery, grains, hint of chocolate.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Oct 2015
at 15:01
8/10
Tried
on 13 Sep 2015
at 18:46
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Negra, con notable espuma beige. Buen aroma, ahumado y con notas de chocolate. En boca cuerpo medio, base dulce de caramelo y malta tostada, y chocolate amargo. Final ahumado que compensa el dulzor predominante. Rica.
Tried
on 07 Jul 2015
at 14:23
7.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Bottles and draught from debut onwards, most recently Spring 2015.
Dark ebony, though in the light it reveals garnet-tinged mahogany edges and a good clarity. Head is a dark beige and small, with moderate to low retention.
THEY FIXED IT!! I wanted to love this beer forever but was unable to do so on account of the horribly bready/vinous flavors that some malt or other was imparting. It dominated even the smokiness and just made the beer a chore to drink. Granted, this one is a dark lager at nearly 6% and not every smoked is going to be Schlenkerla Helles lager....but still, I could barely choke down a bottle/pint of the stuff. So I gave up on it for a few years and within the past 6 months or so, I randomly tried it again and was very pleased to discover that they’d completely cut that out. Now it’s just rich malty caramel flavors with some brown sugar and brown bread balanced by a subtle phenolic smokey dryness and juicy, floral hoppiness.
Overall, a medium to medium-full body but tightly carbonated and not intensely sweet (though certainly tending on the sweet side). I can appreciate the restraint on the smoked malts too, as this is a semi-flagship and it thus needs to appeal to a larger crowd. Wonderful texture, good smokiness and malt flavors, no qualms here.
Dark ebony, though in the light it reveals garnet-tinged mahogany edges and a good clarity. Head is a dark beige and small, with moderate to low retention.
THEY FIXED IT!! I wanted to love this beer forever but was unable to do so on account of the horribly bready/vinous flavors that some malt or other was imparting. It dominated even the smokiness and just made the beer a chore to drink. Granted, this one is a dark lager at nearly 6% and not every smoked is going to be Schlenkerla Helles lager....but still, I could barely choke down a bottle/pint of the stuff. So I gave up on it for a few years and within the past 6 months or so, I randomly tried it again and was very pleased to discover that they’d completely cut that out. Now it’s just rich malty caramel flavors with some brown sugar and brown bread balanced by a subtle phenolic smokey dryness and juicy, floral hoppiness.
Overall, a medium to medium-full body but tightly carbonated and not intensely sweet (though certainly tending on the sweet side). I can appreciate the restraint on the smoked malts too, as this is a semi-flagship and it thus needs to appeal to a larger crowd. Wonderful texture, good smokiness and malt flavors, no qualms here.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 May 2015
at 15:48
6.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Big beige head. Clear reddish brown body with light carbonation. Smoky creosote aroma with syrupy caramel notes. Sweet earthy mineraly syrup taste with roasty butterscotch and caramel notes. Mid-bodied. Mild, soft, buttery mouthfeel. Sweetish earthy toasted rice aftertaste with roasty butterscotch and chocolate notes. Minerals, too. Nice, interesting, drinkable. (0.355l bottle, from Fish & Beer, Copenhagen.)
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 May 2015
at 03:08
7.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Bottle date of 03/19/2015.
This was poured into a pilsener glass.
The appearance was a dark brown color with hues of hazy burnt brown coloring around the sides. A one finger white foamy head started and strolled down the sides of the glass.
The smell started off with the \"meaty\" portion and light smoke. As it warmed, a light chocolate aligned to balance.
The taste was a balance between the smoke, meaty, and a slight roasty quality to let in a tad of chocolate to balance nicely. There’s no aftertaste nor finish.
On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a pretty good sessionability about it. Carbonated finely, a nice smooth roasty quality strolls nicely over my tongue.
Overall, I say this was a pretty good Schwarzbier that I would have again.
This was poured into a pilsener glass.
The appearance was a dark brown color with hues of hazy burnt brown coloring around the sides. A one finger white foamy head started and strolled down the sides of the glass.
The smell started off with the \"meaty\" portion and light smoke. As it warmed, a light chocolate aligned to balance.
The taste was a balance between the smoke, meaty, and a slight roasty quality to let in a tad of chocolate to balance nicely. There’s no aftertaste nor finish.
On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a pretty good sessionability about it. Carbonated finely, a nice smooth roasty quality strolls nicely over my tongue.
Overall, I say this was a pretty good Schwarzbier that I would have again.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Apr 2015
at 21:43
7/10
Tried
on 11 Apr 2015
at 20:06
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Got in a BIF from ZebraCakez. 12 ounce bottle into lager glass, bottled on 11/24/2014. Pours crystal clear deep reddish brown color with a 1 finger dense khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Light spotty soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big chocolate, cocoa, coffee, wood smoke, toast, dark bread, herbal, and roast/smokey earthiness. Damn nice aromas with good balance and complexity of roast/bready malt and smoke notes; with great strength. Taste of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, wood smoke, toast, dark bread, herbal, and roast/smokey earthiness. Fair amount of roast/herbal bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, wood smoke, toast, dark bread, herbal, and roasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Damn nice balance and robustness of roast/bready malt and smoke flavors; with a great roasted bitterness/sweetness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Very clean on lager flavors with no yeast ester notes present. Medium carbonation and light-medium bodied; with a very smooth, fairly crisp, and lightly bready/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is an excellent smoked schwarzbier style. All around great balance and robustness of roast/bready malt and smoke flavors; and very smooth and crisp to drink. A very enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Jan 2015
at 20:42