Smokin’ Bishop pours a nice color with a touch of campfire and maybe even a little peat smoke wafting out a bit. The taste comes with a nice sweetness to it, a little bitterness, a smidgen malty, a tad ashy, and a dash boozy. All this adds up to a well balanced beer. A beer that looks better than it smells, and smells better than it tastes. Invercargill encourages pairing with smoked sausages as well as aging in your cellar for a bit, which The Ministry might just try, hopefully leading to a more robust taste and higher score a year or so down the road. This isn’t a total loss, and it’s obviously not a total win. There is one flavor in this beer, mind you, that does not fit. There are 5 or 6 distinct flavors in there and one of them remains elusive. I can’t quite put my palate on it. It’s right at the tip of my tongue… and for that, Overall Happiness comes in at 4.5 out of 7 smokestacks.
| Beer Name | Smokin’ Bishop Manuka Smoked Bock |
| Brewer’s Description | Smokin’ Bishop is a German style bock beer using our own Manuka smoked malt to give a distinctive smoke character that’s balanced out with the richness of the bock using our own yeast. Served with Smoky Sausages the smoke disappears into a funky fruity bock. Because we smoke our own malt and can’t resist trying different wood combinations – each vintage is distinct. This cellars beautifully, so we encourage fans to buy one for now and one for later … and maybe even another for later again … to create your own vertical tasting. |
| Food Pairings | Smoky Sausages |
| Brewer Location | Invercargill, New Zealand |
| Alcohol content by volume | 7.0% |
| IBU (International Bitterness Units) | 21 |
| Beer opacity rate 1 – 7 (light – dark) | 3.5 |
| Smell smoke? 1 – 7 (No – George Burns) | 3 |
| Sausage detection? Y or N | N |
| Smokepower taste: 1 – 7 Smokestacks | 3 |
| Overall Happiness: 1 – 7 (sad – happy) | 4.5 |
For more info please visit:
SmokeBeerMinistry 