The Year in Beer

Name: Bonfire Rauchbier

Brewer: Samuel Adams (Boston Beer Co.), Boston, Mass.

By the numbers: 213 calories per 12 oz.; 5.7 percent alcohol by volume

Notes: This is the only new addition to the Harvest Collection 12-pack for 2011. I’m generally wary of smoke beers (which is what rauchbier translates to from German). There are some legendary ones, such as Alaskan Smoked Porter, and some awful ones, such as Shiner Smokehaus, which I previously said I thought tasted like a house fire. Of course, Samuel Adams is used to turning challenging styles into crowd-pleasers, as they did over the summer with Rustic Saison. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that they deliver a very accessible rauchbier with Bonfire. It poured a nice amber color with a tan head. The aroma was lightly smoked with hints of caramel malt. The taste was mostly toffee and caramel with a bit of smoke on the back end. The smoke was definitely there, but it didn’t overpower the beer.

Try it with: A bonfire or fire pit or whatever open fire suits your fancy. I spent the first full weekend of fall splitting and stacking enough firewood to last for a couple of years. I’m not a huge fan of winter, but I do like a nice dark beer next to the fire. In fact, fall and winter beers are one of the few things that make the cold weather bearable.

    — Posted by Mike Freimann