3 Ravens Dark

Brewed by 3 Ravens
Style: Smoked
Thornbury, Victoria, Australia

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

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Pours a deep mahogony.. Aroma of roasted malt and light smoke. Little hop on nose. A little thin on the mouthfeel but smooth and smokey. Decently balanced just a little boring for the style.

Tasting from June ’09
Soft pfffft from the bottle once the cap came off. Pour was lifeless, completely still in the glass once settled. Sparkling, deep ruby brown body. First whiff bought husky ash and burnt wood. A distinctive hint of biltong peaks through with aided mocha and treated pine notes also, interesting. Subtle though pronounced flavours of charred gamey meats, kola beer, honey and bonfire ash in the mouth. A light drawn out sweetness precedes some husky smoky dryness into the swallow which is relatively long and a continuation of the palate. The body is light, somewhat watery in texture. Carbonation is almost nil bar a slight crackle up front. Quite mellow overall, it would be bland when served chilled so I’m kind of glad it wasn’t when I tried it. Very easy to drink despite the lack of conditioning. One I’ll try again to be sure! (33cL, no date stamp, International Beer Shop, W. Leederville)

UPDATED: SEP 1, 2010 330ml bottle. pours a deep copper. taste is of roasted malts and a dep smokiness.

Bottle. Not a rauchbier in the tradtional style, but there is still enough smokiness to get me excited.

Beige lacey head, with tawny brown body. Obvious smoke aroma, possibly at the expense of any other body. Medium length and complexity despite the differnce of the smoking. My first Aussie smoked beer. Melbourne, at the Beer Cafe.

Sweet cherry wood, bacon (almost gamey) and milk chocolate on the nose; a very promising start. The palate has a fair bit of fizz and unfortunately this keeps the flvaours under wraps. Certainly underfruited when compared to the nose, and only a touch of milk chocolate pokes out. The Germans are a much better option even if they cost more.

330mL bottle. Pours a clear dark red with minimal head. Strong aroma of yeast extract, with bacon, chocolate and smoke. Flavours of roasted malt with a slight bitterness, and a little oaky, but just didn’t seem quite right. Light-medium bodied, average carbonation, average bitter finish.

Pours hazy copper with a small head. Nose shows sweet caramel, smoke, bacon and light roasted malt. More smoke and bacon show as flavours, with sweet clean malt in the background. Creamy low carbonation and body.

Poured into a lager glass, you could almost mistake it for a cola. Highly carbonated, although that doesn’t last long. Thick creamy head that lingers. Strong aroma, very smokey, almost coffee like. The taste is not as strong as the aroma would suggest. The palette is not overly strong but does have a suttle chocolate touch. I’m not a very big dark beer fan, but this one was quite nice.

UPDATED: APR 12, 2010 Red-brown, a finger of light tan head. Nose has chocolate malt and some grass. Some savoury hints, but smoke is not obviously there for me. Taste is berry sweet and malty, with some ham notes. Smooth texture. Just a little bitterness at the end. A bit dull. [old rating 2.5] Head vanishes to a few wisps. This time I can smell plenty of smoke and there’s smoke in the dry finish too. Seems rather less sweet too - there’s more vanilla than chocolate this time. Not bad.