Britt Rousse

Brewed by Brasserie Britt (Brasserie de Bretagne)
Style: Smoked
Trégunc, France

bottle from Village de la Bière Strasbourd. Hazy brown colour with an amber glow, small head. Medium-bodied, flavours of caramel and tobacco with a smoky touch, hints of tropical fruit such as mango and papaya. Low carbonation. A very interesting example of the style, probably due to the combination of fruit and smoke.

Bottled 33cl. It pours a clear nut brown beer with a small light beige head. The aroma malt accentuated with hints of ship rope, cooking oil, tobacco, tar, mango, peat, papaya, smoke, milk chocolate, coconut and candy. The taste is a bit watery. Light bodied. Not much carbonation. Sweet with apparent whisky malt. Leathery. Faintly sour. Low bitterness. Poor hop profile. Not really a sipping beer, this Smoked is refreshing, surprisingly light bodied. The kind of beer to dry on a sunny day in Brittany. Mediocre lacework. Faintly acidic finish which is reminiscent of raisins, smoke, peat and papaya. Pretty good.

75cl conditioned bottle with cork stopper @5.4%. Bought in Brittany and drunk at home in UK. Almost red in colour with a large white head. Rather a lot of sediment but nice and clear when carefully poured. Can’t say I really noticed any smokiness but the taste was reasonably malty with a touch of pleasant sourness. Overall a rather enjoyable fruity beer.

Mid amber in colour, has a firm white head, but loses a point for being a bit hazy. I didn’t know anything about the use of smoked malt in this beer when I tried it, but the smokiness jumped out of the glass and was quite pronounced, it came as a pleasant surprise. It’s a full bodied brew, and that smoke comes across again, it reminded me of a light style of rauchbier. Very nice stuff, a present from my brother after a visit to Brittany. This was a 75cl bottle with a cork stopper and was 5.4% alcohol, rather than 5.8%.

Bottle brought back from Nick’s holiday in France (thanks Nick!). Rather nice beer I thought. Sweet malty amber, with a hinjt of smoke that is tantalising and tasty. A bit of rose, a bit of fruit cordial. Enjoyable.

Very smoked ! Malt, sugar, light bitterness. Not my kind of beer but quite original !

A clear amber ale with some fairly strong aromas of sweet malt and grassy hop, along with a faint note of smoke. The smoke is far more appatent in the flavor, although not in an overpowering sort of way. There are also more malty flavor notes, along with a very mild fruit influence. Overall, it’s no Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier, but it would do in a pinch. Thanks to Lubiere for the sample.

Reddish brown ale with a thin white head. Sweet malt and herbal overtones in aroma. In mouth, a completely different story. Very smokey malt with undertones of whiskey malt, and lightly oily in mouth. Sweetness gets a bit cloying. Medium bodied. Still very interesting smoked ale.