The Big Smoke
8 Wired Brewing in Warkworth, Auckland, New Zealand 🇳🇿
Porter - Smoked Regular|
Score
7.14
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Now what is this? A smoked beer?? It really isn’t as crazy as it sounds. 250 years ago virtually all beers were smoked (it’s true, Google it!), but with the dawning of the industrial revolution most of the smoke lifted. However, in the German town of Bamberg the flame has quite literally been kept alive and to this day the town’s brewers produce world renowned beers brewed with their own special rauchmalz (beechwood smoked malt).
We’ve taken our best porter recipe and added a good measure of that same Bamberg Rauchmalz. The smoke mingles beautifully with the rich, dark roasted chocolate flavours of the porter without being overpowering. Although it pairs extremely well with smoked seafood, barbeques, strong cheeses and hearty stews, its food friendliness isn’t limited to savouries; chocolate and caramel based deserts are great companions too! Trust us; it really isn’t as crazy as it sounds.
We’ve taken our best porter recipe and added a good measure of that same Bamberg Rauchmalz. The smoke mingles beautifully with the rich, dark roasted chocolate flavours of the porter without being overpowering. Although it pairs extremely well with smoked seafood, barbeques, strong cheeses and hearty stews, its food friendliness isn’t limited to savouries; chocolate and caramel based deserts are great companions too! Trust us; it really isn’t as crazy as it sounds.
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7.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
Tap at DeWildeman, 16th February 16. Pours black, nice head, looks good. Aroma is cocoa, smoke, slight peat. Taste is smooth, milk and dark chocolate, smoke, slight peat, satisfying stuff.
Tried
from Draft
on 17 Feb 2017
at 07:57
7.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Keg at Brewdog Shepherds Bush, London. A black coloured pour with a medium beige head on top. Aroma of smoke, malt and chocolate. Tastes rather similar, smoky, malty, chocolate, some dark fruit lurking too. Nice smoked number from 8 Wired.
Tried
on 29 Jan 2017
at 03:13
7.3/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle. Darkest brown color with thin but stable beige head. Aroma is smoked, chalk, ash. Taste is smoked, ham, umami, a bit metallic, chocolate. Medium carbonation. Nice, but there’s better Smoked Porters.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Jan 2017
at 15:33
7.1/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Bottle from the Blue Moon, Cambridge. Dark brown and impenetrable with a khaki head. Chocolate fudge sundae with notes of milky coffee. Getting surprisingly little smoke but there is some nice hoppy floral scent. The milky sweetness is interwoven with a sharp bittering hop. There is sweet campfire smoke in the background and the finish is strongly smoky. Very well carbonated. Yum.
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Jan 2017
at 12:05
7.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Keg at BD So Ho Ho, 23/12/16. Black with a decent khaki head. Nose is smoked malt, dark chocolate, spice, grains, light metallic nip, fruit loaf. Taste comprises smoked malts, smoked meats, liquorice, spice, charr, toffee melt. Medium bodied, fine carbonation, semi drying close with a mellow smoky linger. Solid well balanced Rausch.
Tried
on 23 Dec 2016
at 06:38
7.9/10
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Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Creamy beige head left a good cover on a near black still body - Looks great. Dark fruits, plum & slightly smoky but not overpowering. Smooth to fore, reasonably full mouth feel & prickly on them back - slightly cloying. Plum, berries, brown sugar, malts & a bitter tang on the back. This has a general smokiness to it but nothing overwhelming
Tried
on 23 Nov 2016
at 12:55
7.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
0.5 l bottle from ’Firma Bier’, best before March 2016. Clear, very dark reddish brown to black with a thin, frothy, slowly diminishing, beige head. Sweetish, slightly roasty-malty and rather smoky aroma of dark chocolate, smoked ham and a bit of ash. Sweetish-malty, slightly roasty and quite smoky taste of dark chocolate, coffee, licorice, lots of smoked ham and hints of dark ripe fruits, followed by a medium long, moderately roasty-bitter, rather smoky finish. Medium body, slightly creamy and quite effervescent mouthfeel, average carbonation. Nice one, not sure how old it is but it held up very well! Still very smoky, and I like that!
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Nov 2016
at 15:01
7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
On tap at Vultures Lane. Aroma is just big smoky meat, and flavour is not far off. There’s a little caramel, a little BBQ, but mostly just smoke. Nice, but honestly it’s just another smoked beer.
Tried
from Draft
on 09 Sep 2016
at 05:01
8.8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 10
Overall 9
This really is very good. Nice, thick, creamy head; lots of lace. Aroma is smoke, dark bread dough, malt, bit of fruit. Flavor’s similar to nose, plus hint of anise, caraway, carbonic tang, bittersweet\. Smoke is very balanced. Excellent body. Very easy drinking beer. Wish I had more.
Tried
on 04 Jun 2016
at 21:49
8.3/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle. Very dark brown color, thin tan head. Aroma of bacon and smoldering coffee grounds. Taste has licorice and burnt espresso. Very nice.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Dec 2015
at 11:39