Behind the Bar - ReAle in Kilt Smoke Ale
Author: Barmacral Tigana
Beer is a truly international drink, found in virtually every part of the world. A few places tend to be known for their beer such as Belgium but craft beer is expanding in many countries around the globe. This month we go to an Italian craft brewery called birra del borga and review their beer ReAle in Kilt.
A deep golden amber colour with a white head to it that lasts a long time, this beer has a mild malty and smoky nose to it. The smoke is no accident, the 8.4% beer is specifically described as a smoke beer, and it carries through the flavour as well, providing a strong and subtle backbone to the malty character. A well balanced beer, it has little bitterness or sweetness and instead relies on the smoke to balance the malt.
Rating: 3.25 / 5 – Very pleasant and the smoke is not overwhelming, which I like. If anything I wouldn’t mind a little bit more smoke character to the beer.
Beer Facts: Beer Styles
Many foods are smoked by being held over a fire for a long period of time while the smoke passes directly over it and cooks it / dries it out. Beer, being a liquid, obviously cannot be smoked this way, so how do they add the smoke?
The method is actually to smoke the malts before they are added to the beer, which will impart a very large amount of smoke character with only a small amount of smoked malt being added. Many different smoke flavours can be added as well, depending on what you smoke the malt with. Common are various types of wood chips or peat, though a beer in Iceland was made with malts smoked with sheep dung and another made with malts smoked with whale testicles.
