Smoke Beer

What is Smoke Beer?

Smoke beer, or rauchbier in German, is a type of beer that obtains its smoky flavour and aroma from the use of smoked malt.

The malt is dried in a smoking oven or over an open flame, often using beech, birch, or oak wood as fuel, which imparts the characteristic scent and taste to the malt. Since smoked malt can be added to any type of beer, be it ale or lager, there is debate as to whether smoke beer constitutes a separate beer style or whether the smoky flavour and aroma are simply one of many characteristics of the beer.

The most famous smoke beers come from the city of Bamberg in Germany, where it’s a tradition spanning centuries.

Origin Story

Before figuring out how to dry malt using indirect heating, grains were dried by lighting wood or coal fires beneath them. This meant that almost all malt had a more or less smoky taste: less so if the fuel was relatively clean-burning coke, more so if the fuel was slowly burning resinous softwood.

In 1818, British inventor and engineer Daniel Wheeler revolutionized brewing by creating the drum kiln, a device for drying malt that never directly exposes the malt to the kiln’s fire. As a result, malt could now become smoke-free. By the mid-19th century, indirect heating was used almost universally. Thus, the smoky flavour practically disappeared from the beer world. 

Nevertheless, certain breweries persisted in intentionally crafting beers with a distinctive smoky flavour. Rauchbier has been a trademark for the Franconian region and especially the city of Bamberg for centuries. Breweries in Bamberg made a deliberate choice to uphold the tradition of smoke beer, making it the prevailing beer style in Bamberg to this day.

Bamberg rauchbier is made from smoked malt dried over beechwood flames. Smoked malt is employed in crafting helles, märzen, and bock beers.

Aside from Germany, traditional smoke beers stem from several other countries. Grodziskie (also known as grätzer) is a traditional smoke beer from Poland; it is made from wheat and is highly carbonated. It has been brewed since the 14th and 15th centuries. 

In recent years, brewers have expanded the spectrum of smoke beers: American brewers have popularized smoked porters, seasonal rauchbock has been brewed in Franconia for some time, and various smoked wheat beers have also gained prominence.