Franconia Notch Smoke Jumper

"Most brewers were delighted when clean-tasting coke-dried malt became available in the mid-1700s, but some people never gave up on malts dried over wood fires. Just as Scotland's whisky producers have retained peat-smoked malts, citing their unique flavor contributions, several breweries in the Franconia region of Germany have done the same. The local style of smoked beer, called rauchbier (Rauch means "smoke"), remains particularly popular in the town of Bamberg. Bamberg is an old brewing center where monastic breweries once held sway over both body and soul" (341, Oliver: 2003).

I've only ever had rauchbier once - a few years ago, a Rogue Smoke Beer - and I found it interesting and oddly enjoyable, yet not something I thought I'd like to drink all that often.

To be honest, I hadn't thought much about it until recently doing some reading in Garret Oliver's pretty awesome book on beer and food The Brewmaster's Table. I got to thinking about brewing a batch, and the redolent impact of the Green Chile Ale had last summer at Eske's in Taos, New Mexico led me to brainstorm the following recipe: a rauchbier with some smoked and dried chile heat for an extra dynamic.

For this 2.5 gallon recipe, I took the rauchbier recipe found here at the online world of my local brewing supply shop as the basis and then twisted things here and there for the following.

A couple of months down the road, we'll see what happens.

The Franconia Notch* Smoke Jumper. Unveiled.

Grain/Malt/Sugar
12 oz Beechwood Smoked Barley Malt
4 oz Munich 20 Barley Malt
4 oz Cara Munich III Barley Malt
3 lb Pilsen Light Dry Malt Extract
4 oz Brown Sugar
2.5 oz Dextrose (for bottle conditioning)

Hops
1 oz Perle (full hour)
1/2 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker (15 minutes)

Additional Ingredients
2 Chipotle Chiles
1 Pasilla Chile
2 Dundicut Chiles

Yeast
Saflager s-23

* Franconia Notch - the mountain pass in New Hampshire, namesake of a New Hampshire state park, a key feature in the Granite State's much-loved White Mountains - was so-named back in the late 18th century due to its (and the surrounding region's) resemblance of the Franconia region of Germany.

As such, coming from Massachusetts and loving the occasional escape into the woods up north, I think that the style and place evoked by the name Franconia Notch Smoke Jumper fit nicely.

The White Mountains series: A 360 panorama taken in the corner of the White Mountain National Forest which reaches into western Maine. Early September 2009.

We'll see if the beer itself does the name justice.