They taste - as one beerdrinker recently put it to me - "like drinking a barbecue pit."
I love them. I don't know why, but there is something about the way that smoky, barbecue pit flavor meshes with the beer that works for me, that makes me happy every time I drink one. I'd choose a smoked beer over just about any fruit flavored beer.
So, thank god for the Bull & Bush, which just released Smoke on the Lager, a dark, German-style Rauchbier that drinks surprisingly light and easy.
It was one of the most balanced smoked beers I've had, putting forward a good amount of smoky, roasted barley without overdoing it. And it smelled like a campfire.
Other smoked beers I've tried in Colorado include Left Hand's Smokejumper, which won the gold for smoked beers at the Great American Beer Festival last year (and is on Westword's list of 50 Colorado Beers to Try Before You Die), and Second Hand Smoke, an occasional beer made by the guys at the Blue Moon Brewing Company @ the Sandlot at Coors Field. It's probably the smokiest beer I've had.
