Bièropholie Calumet Grand Chef

Pours almost black with minimal white head. Aroma of smoked meats quite overpowering. Leaves a thick lacing on the glass. Some carbonation with the mouth with caramel with the smoked meat. Spicy aftertaste left behind. Some alcohol in the taste, very well balanced. -Tyler

Bottle from RadioMGB, thanks! Deep dark brown color. Malt and beechwood smoke in the aroma. Malty flavor with peach. A slight tartness with loads of beechwood smoke. Peach, melon and pineapple in the finish. Lovely!

This smells like a beer version of Lagavulin. Very smoky. It’s hard to smell anything else under all the smokiness. Some molasses, minerals and maybe a little coffee and dark chocolate. I love the smell of Lagavulin, turns out it smells just as good in beer form. I literally dumped the bottle into my glass, after seeing that it wasn’t producing much head, and still got nothing. A stout without a head looks so sad. More of a dark brown in colour as opposed to a typical black stout. No lacing. I’m not sure what I think of this, I’ve never tried a beer so smoky. The feature here is definitely smoke. There’s a picture of a camp fire on the label so I’m assuming this is what they were going for! It really does taste like smoke in a glass. There’s a unique lactic thing going on as well, reminiscent of blue cheese. Molasses, minerals, even a little salty. The ABV isn’t perceptible. This is a funky beer. There’s even an aftertase of smoke...do they put liquid smoke in this stuff or something? I don’t know what to rate this, it’s cool but very strange. Decent feel. A solid medium body and lightly carbonated. I wouldn’t want any more than one of these at a time and wouldn’t want to drink it often either. The extreme smokiness is too much.

Bottle from a trip to Montreal. Pours a deep cola black with barely any head. Smoke is right up front on this, light malt and almost some oxidization behind it. Medium bodied, light old fruit and raisin flavors, nice char and roast, and huge smoke. More long lingering smoke on the finish.

341 ml bottle courtesy of a trade with Boutip. Pours very dark brown, not quite black, with a thin-moderate off-white head that completely disappeared in about two minutes and left no lace. Pleasant aroma that is almost entirely dominated by smoked meat and, to a lesser extent, wood smoke. The flavor is again heavily dominated by smoked meat along with a weird smoked fish flavor. There is a bit of a metallic twang towards the finish as well. I enjoy smoked beers, so that wasn’t the problem. It’s more the quality and intensity of the smoke that I have an issue with.

9/09/2009: Calumet Grand Chef "Triple Porter"... Aroma: Really nice deep, malty smokiness; smells very encouraging. Appearance: Deep chesnut brown color; clean but opaque; extremely thin crackly veil. Flavor: Hmmm... Initial taste reveals a sourish-acidic-burnt maltiness; some thin watery chocolate followed by a decent smokiness, char, roasted malt, Palate: Seems really thin for the style, but smooth. Overall: Truly a smoked beer? No. A "triple" porter? No. A fairly well-done porter or baltic porter-like beer? I can buy that?

341 ml bottle ( 7.8% alc./vol.) shared by alexsdad06. Thanks Brad! Rating #162 for this beer.

355mL courtesy of Glouglouburp. Pours a cloudy deep mahogany with a two finger, fizzy, creamy, tan head that has good retention and leaves some spotty lacing. Aroma is slightly sour with some cherry soda but then moves to smoked bacon and salted pork. Taste is a bit watery and thin but has a surprising tart, tangy quality. Oily, coating on the palate. Very enjoyable.

Bottle shared by alexsdad06. Poured dark brown color with an average frothy off-white head that diminished slowly with fair lacing. Moderate to heavy smoke, toasted malt aroma. Medium body with a smooth texture and flat carbonation. Medium to heavy bittersweet smoke flavor with a medium to heavy bittersweet finish of moderate to long duration. My expectations where exceeded and this beer would go well with a cigar.