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Nils Oscar Smoked Porter

The underlying stout/porter is big — in imperial stout territory, in fact. So it easily stands up to smoke flavours and therefore, rather than coming across as a novelty beer as do some smoked beers, seems perfectly balanced.

nilsoscarrokporter

The list of decent smoked beers continues to grow with the addition of Nils Oscar Rokporter, a big six 6% beer from Sweden.

The underlying stout/porter is big — in imperial stout territory, in fact. It easily stands up to smoke flavours and so, rather than coming across as a novelty as do some other smoked beers, just seems perfectly balanced. There are hints of smoke in quite a few readily available porters (including Fuller’s) so in this, it’s just like that track has has boosted in the mix.

Whether there’s any truth to the idea that all porter used to taste smoky, it certainly gives you a feeling that you’re drinking something from the past — from before breweries became places filled with stainless steel, plastic pipes and computers.

Beer Merchants distribute Nils Oscar Rokporter in the UK.

4 replies on “Nils Oscar Smoked Porter”

I put a little smoked malt in my latest porter but I think I undershot by quite a bit. I find the notion of all porters of the past having a smoked character very interesting but they must have found a way to temper it otherwise it would surely have been too strong.

Thom, I think that porters were aged to remove the smokiness – it fades over time. And when I say “I think”, what I mean is that I think I read it Ron Pattinson’s blog.

Thom — most people posting recipes online suggest that to get near the pronounced smokiness of Schlenkerla, you need to use almost 100 per cent Bamberg smoked malt. So, to get a subtler smoked character, I reckon you’d still have to use smoked malt for something like a quarter to a third of the total amount.

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