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Styles · Rauchbier

Beer style · BJCP 2021 6B

Rauchbier

Amber Malty European Lager

Representative The guidelines publish this style’s ranges per variant or not at all, so these are a representative envelope instead.

Original gravity
1.050–1.057
Final gravity
1.012–1.016
Bitterness
18–30 IBU
Color
12–22 SRM (24–43 EBC)
Alcohol
4.8–6.0 % ABV

What it is

A Märzen brewed with beechwood-smoked malt, so woodsmoke sits over toasty amber malt. The smoke has to marry into the malt rather than dominate, and should never read as ash, soot or bacon. Underneath the smoke it still has to be a clean, well-lagered German amber beer.

Flavor

What a Rauchbier should taste like, on the three wheels the studio scores every recipe against. The shaded ring is the style’s range on each axis, from 0 at the center to 5 at the edge.

Hops

Hops stay in the background: none of their character belongs.

Malt

Bready/biscuit, toasty and smoke, with room for grainy, sweet/honey or caramel.

Fermentation

Clean, with room for sulfur.

Hops that suit it

The traditional choice

What Rauchbier has classically been brewed with.

Nothing else on character: the hops here are there for bitterness and balance, and any variety whose aroma you would notice is out of place.

Yeasts that suit it

Strains the lab made for beers like this one, whose fermentation character sits inside the style’s wheel. A strain sold by several labs is listed once; its page names the others.

And 15 more yeasts whose character fits. These are the 24 that fit best.

Style numbers, names and vital statistics are from the BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines, where you will find the official descriptions. The descriptions and flavor wheels here are Beerwright’s own. Beerwright is not affiliated with or endorsed by the BJCP.