Its a snow day at SBM, so you are allowed to question The Witchdoctor’s sobriety.
A sour bitterness hits you front and center. Smells great. Tastes fine. The bitterness hides the wheat flavors. The smoke stands out. Tiny tiny bit of silt down in the bottom. Smells great. Tastes fine. Don’t tell me I’m repeating myself. Just a refresher; A Grätzer is a kind of smokebeer with a high wheat content and less alcohol. Smells, smells like beechwood smoked wheat. Tastes German, although its from The Netherlands, which is close enough, and used to be the same country I think. This beer has components of a good smokebeer, but it isn’t a good smokebeer, but close. Bitterness and smokiness is all that’s to this one. Overall Happiness metric stacks up at 3 out of 7 smokestacks.
There’s a rumor going around that this is the same beer as the Piwo Grodziskie reviewed back in 2014. It might be, and their ratings came out close enough to back up that claim. For whatever reason, Grätzer historic ale came out a bit smokier.
| Brewer | Jopen/The Monarchy |
| Beer Name | Grätzer historic ale |
| Brewer’s Description | An international coalition of historic brewing enthusiasts-Holland’s Browerij Jopen, Germany’s The Monarchy, and beer writers Ron Pattinson and Evan Rail-came together to revive this distinct Polish beer style. Brewed to the exact gravity of 7.7 Plato, crafted with 100% smoked wheat malt and Lublin hops, and fermented with the original yeast, it is an authentic recreation of the beer made at Grodzsisk Weilkopolski up until the local brewery’s closing in 1993. As the town has at different times belonged to both Prussia and Poland, so do we offer two different versions: Grätzer, the international 20th century recipe, and Grodziskie, the local medieval recipe, brewed with willow bark. |
| Food Pairings | Polish sausage |
| Brewery Location | Haarlen, The Netherlands |
| Alcohol content by volume | 4.0% |
| Beer opacity rate 1 – 7 (light – dark) | 1.9 |
| Smell smoke? 1 – 7 (No – George Burns) | 3 |
| Sausage detection? Y or N | Y… maybe |
| Smokepower taste: 1 – 7 Smokestacks | 3 |
| Overall Happiness: 1 – 7 (sad – happy) | 3 |
For more info:
SmokeBeerMinistry 