The Alaskan Frontier: Smoke ‘Em if You Got Em--

title BoD3

The Alaskan Frontier: Smoke ‘Em if You Got ‘Em–

49^th State Smoked Märzen Abv 5.7 IBU 25 3 - 4 stars recommended

There was a time when smoked beers were pretty common. It’s easier to dry malt using direct heat than to create a double chamber system that will toast the malt but keep the smoke away from the grain. As brewing became more commercial and more sophisticated, smoked beers gave way to cleaner flavors—except in isolated spots such as Bamberg, Germany. [more on Bamberg’s Schlenkerla beer tomorrow.]

On this side of the Atlantic – more properly the Pacific—Alaska has pioneered a revival of smoked beer. In 1988, Geoff Larson, who with his wife Marcy had opened the Alaskan Brewing Company a couple of years earlier, introduced Alaskan Smoked Porter. The porter, sporadically available since, became a cult sensation—the Heddy Topper of its day. A skillful use of smoke gave a complexity to the flavor and served and acted as a preservative, allowing the beer to be cellared for years. 49th state smoked maerzen IMG_0563

It seems appropriate, therefore, for one of Alaska’s newer breweries, 49^th State, to brew their own version of a smoked beer. Their choice was a märzen style—the same style that Heller Brewing’s Schlenkerla has popularized around the world.

We had a chance to taste a smoked golden ale recently, and it provided a quick and effective lesson on why darker beers are more suitable for smoke. The malt and the smoke quibbled and nagged at each other until an outright clash in the aftertaste. 49^th State has avoided such a conflict in its märzen. It’s quite smoky, but there is a fundamental balance and the smoke is strikingly clean. We were able to try it at a bottle share; I hope we’ll get a chance to do it justice by drinking it all night if we ever get to Healy, Alaska.

Tasting notes: A big smoke aroma greets from the start, but no more aggressive than most Schlenkerla beers. Starts and stays clean and even with a remarkable sustained cleanliness for the style. Still, it’s all about the smoke. There a bit of milky malt and even a hint of salt as it drinks, but the clean rich smoke is what makes it so moreish.

Food Pairings: One of the basic rules of food pairing is “complement or contrast”. The knee jerk pairing for smoked beers is smoked fish or smoked meats, and that’s OK, though it can be a bit much for some palates. We prefer to match it with meats that aren’t smoked—there’s almost a gustatory illusion as the actual and expected sources of the smoke are reversed.