Holy Smoke

Tap @ Pingvinen, Bergen. Niceness! This is a light coffee-brown beer with a small quickly fading and thinly sidesticking beige head. The aroma is not as smoky as I would have imagined, more on the sweet side with malt-sweetness, dark caramel, some old-man furnitures and hints of fruits and more subtle smoky tones. Ok, there is defenitely smoke in here, but I"m not bathing in an astray like some of the scherlenka beers can make me feel. Average and small bubbled carbonation level on top of a slick and almost sticky body. Lots more smoky and ashy flavors! It's also lightly fruity and sweet, but the smoke cuts right through all that quite elegantly. Ends with a light mouthdrying smokiness. Good stuff!

Bottle @ Nærbø beerfestival. Clear, deep brown body with a moderate beige head. A very pleasant level of smoke and malt in the nose. Hint of peat and bacon. Flavor is malt and smoke, hint of peat, moderate bitterness and lots of smoke with some cured meat in the aftertaste. No fuzz, just a really nice and balanced Bamberg style beer.

A good amount of 100ml poured from tap into a plastic glass at Oslo Ølfestival, Bryggetorget. Very dark body with a shiny brownish tint. Steady beige head. Smoked aroma, more of ham and sausage than bacon. Bamberg smoke, alright, accentuated by dry, earthy malts with modest hints of caramel sweetness. Notes a dark fruits far behind. Punch of dry bitter ending. Medium bodied. Nice and smooth. Looking forward to the bottle edition (Ølmesseteltet, Oslo 08.10.2011).