Smoked Bacon, Wheat and Grapefruit

A continuation from the previous post.

The last and probably most bizarre beer that I have ever laid eyes on, let alone tried. 'Smoke Signals' by Siren from a place called Finchampstead, wherever that might be. I think it is in England? I was told it isn't actually that far from where I live but I'm not sure.

What an odd but exceptional beer.

It wasn't until I poured it into a glass that fear struck me. Fear that I'd never before experienced, only read about. The kind that makes you freeze on the edge right before you are about to jump off the tallest of the diving boards and glide through the air, accelerating rapidly towards your possible death. Or at least that is what you're thinking as you stand there on the edge. It's a mental force that prevents you from doing which could harm.

There was a time, long ago at a beer festival. I was young and brave and was talked into trying a Belgian 'Lambic' beer, a sour. Something I'd never tasted before but knew I wouldn't like as I can't even stand the smallest amount of grapefruit juice.

The beer was smokey hence the name 'Smoke Signals'. It is a collaboration between Siren and Stillwater. A smoked wheat sour. It rolls off the tongue but will the beer do the same or is it simply a case of wordplay.

After staring at it for what felt like an hour but was informed it was less than a minute. I plucked up the courage to give it a sniff.

Like the reviews I recently read on ratebeer.com, it did have a hint of smoked bacon on the nose but I think I only noticed or thought that because that is what I'd read. It's like tasting a wine, if you say it tastes like melons, then whoever you are tasting it with will start to detect melons.

I pressed the glass to my bottom lip and slowly tilted it until the beer came into contact with flesh. All this time part of me was screaming for me to stop. I won't! I shouted at my self. It's something new and I'm into trying new things at the moment. I'm brave, I'm strong blah blah blah.

My involuntary reflux was instantaneous. As soon as a single molecule of the stuff touched the very tip of my tongue, I pulled the glass away carefully not to spill any. The immediate sour tang caused me to purse my lips and shrivel into a shivering wreck. This happened so quickly it probably wasn't even visible.

My life flashed before me, coming to a stop and playing through a scene, it was the first time that I tried a 'Sour'. I failed then, I will not fail now. This beer will not get the better of me, I will conquer it.

And conquer it I did, sip after sip until it was all gone, every last drop. It took me nearly an hour to finish it but as every sip passed over my tongue, registering in my brain, my palate began to change. My palate had adapted to appreciate this beer and to my surprise finishing and actually enjoying it. Not quite falling in love with it but if I ever see it again I'd be tempted to have another.

All the reviews you read online about it don't seem wholly accurate to me. The smoked bacon never took hold. It was more like a wheat beer had been infused with wood chips that would normally been used when smoking or curing meat. Then during the boil it must have been steeped with the piths of 100 white grapefruit. Obviously this is not the case but it is fun to image Dwarves or Elves concocting such a beer in a wooden cabin somewhere in the Alps or something.

It is a beer that does more than just stir your imagination.

Smoke Signals comes under the subheading 'special releases'

sirencraftbrew

For a chance to meet the brewers at Siren, come on down to Real Ale on Thursday 26th February

realale.com