My latest article for The Bulletin, out this week, touches on smoked lagers with a profile of a nice one brewed up at McMenamins Old St. Francis School: Bamberg Obsession, a helles-style lager brewed with beechwood-smoked malt.

I asked [head brewer Vance] Wirtz what inspired the beer. “The inspiration for it was honestly seeing some really awesome interpretations of the style from breweries like Pfriem, Wayfinder, and Heater Allen,” he said via email. “Seeing rauchbiers in cans was not a typical thing years ago. I think once I had some hard evidence that these beers are sellable to the masses, it made it easier to justify that creative itch I wanted to scratch.”

In developing the recipe, the amount of smoked malt to use initially gave Wirtz some pause.

“The base line for most beers in the style is 20% of the mash bill, but it’s not uncommon to hear breweries using up to 50% or even 75%!” he said. “I wanted this beer to be super approachable to the average beer drinker so I did 20%. The result was a super crushable beer that I think acts as a good gateway smoke beer for the average drinker.”

Check out the full article to find out more. And, it’d be a good beer to fill a growler with for the Fourth.