Flavour group
Smoky
Beers brewed with fire-dried malt, carrying genuine woodsmoke character that ranges from a trace to fully dominant.
A BeerHQ grouping for finding beer, not an official classification. No style body recognises these, and that is fine — they exist to bridge the gap between how a beer tastes and what it is called.
Suits you if
- Likes smoked food, peated whisky or lapsang souchong.
- Is eating barbecue, smoked meat or strong cheese.
- Wants something genuinely unlike other beer.
May not suit
- Anyone who dislikes smoke — this is not a subtle characteristic.
- Drinkers wanting more than one glass; it is fatiguing in quantity.
The shape of this group
Sweetness
Bitterness
Body
Malt intensity
Smoke
3 styles in this group
- Grodziskie
A low-strength Polish wheat beer brewed entirely from oak-smoked malt: light, sharply hopped, very fizzy and unmistakably smoky.
- Lichtenhainer
A historical Thuringian smoked wheat beer that is also lightly sour — an unusual combination of smoke and lactic acidity.
- Rauchbier
A Märzen-based lager brewed with beechwood-smoked malt — intensely smoky, often compared to bacon, over a clean malt base.