Baron Rauchbier

Brewed by Baron Brewing & Lunar Brewing
Style: Smoked
Seattle, Washington USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

Pours gold with a white head. Smells of over the top smoked malt, some caramel. Tastes of caramel with some smoke and a watery finish. The nose on this is excellent. Too bad the mouthfeel and flavor doesn’t live up to the nose.

Bottle. gold. Thin white head. Smoked bacon and cheese aroma. Light base beer. Definate smoke and cheese character. A bit of sourness. Sour smoke finish.

Golden color. Full bodied. Nothing but smoked cheese and smoked bacon going on here. This would go awesome with a ham and cheese sandwich. Smokiness is fairly aggressive, but not nearly as bad as a lot of Bamberg beers. Really enjoyed this.

22 oz bottle, via 5000. Pours a hazy copper body with a small fizzy beige head that faded to a thin ring. Fairly nice campfire smokiness on the nose with a toasty malt base. The flavor leaves a bit to be desired though, very murky maltiness with the smoke lightly coming out on the finish. There’s a bit of a carbonic bite to it due to the very fizzy and prickly prominent carbonation. Finishes almost seltzer like. Overall, a bit of a disappointment for this Rauchbier fan.

Appearance: Pours a hazy, dark copper body with a thin, short-lived, white head. Smell: Sweetish, grainy malts with a smoked sausage smoke component (though not too smoked sausage-y, mind you). Taste: Sweet German malts with a hint of grain infused with a balanced smokiness. It’s about that time a slight, highly suspect tartness and acidic pop of lemon juice begins filtering into the flavor. A tartness the meaty smoke character just can’t cover up. All in all, it comes up a bit short to begin with and, once you factor in that questionable tartness, well... Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: While based on the beers of Bamberg, I’d certainly rather have one of them. Schlenkerla, where are you when I need you?! All of the Baron beers I’ve come across have been a bit off, and this one, regrettably, is no different, though being one of the few US breweries focusing on German beers, I do wish they’d start hitting a few home runs with me. Onward and upward, Baron!!

When i bought this i didn’t no a thing about it, neither did the other Houston BA’s, but this is a hidden unknown gem .. . pours with a good little head, with hearty german style lacing .. . light smoked malts tickled the nose, like drained honeey comb and smoked meats .. . amazingly smooth, and even abit refreshing .. . i like just the light touch of smoke, a very well amde beer in the bamburg style .. . awesome!

I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later.

Date: March 28, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party
Appearance: hazy gold, wispy white head, streaks of drippy lace
Aroma: light smoked aroma on a sweet malt base
Flavor: lots of smoked flavor, sweet malt adds contrast rather than balance, light wheaty tartness, light bitterness in the finish from the earthy smoke
Overall: oposing characters do not mesh together very well
Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.6/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

A. Light bready malt, smoke App. Yellowish Golden color, clear. Light thin white head F. Bready malt, light smoke, slight tartness P. Thin body , slight astrigent MF O. Interesting mildly smokey,tart ale