Holy Smoke – Church-Key Brewing

So this is another one of those reveiws of a beer I already know and love.  Church-Key Brewing is on the way to Erika’s family cottage, and also not far from her cousin’s cottage, which we visit often.  Just outside the town of Campbellford, Chuch-Key occupies an old church building, and they brew a great line of beers.  A few offerings to help the uninitiated ease into the waters of craft brewing, and a variety of really cool innovative brews.  A west coast IPA that bites back, a seasonally available cranberry maple wheat beer, a mead, a flander’s sour that tastes like blue cheese, and a scotch ale; Holy Smoke.  I would have to check, but I think Holy Smoke is one of their oldest brews.  Similar in approach to Innis and Gunn, this is malty Scotch ale that gets to hang out in whiskey barrels for a while, and soaks up some of that goodness (Always fact-check with your local brewer before going on word-of-mouth!  Thanks to Jon for stopping by and correcting me)  Holy Smoke is made with smoked malts in the grain-bill, giving it a distinctive smokey character.  It is a rare day I find myself near Campbellford, and don’t find myself with a growler of Holy Smoke, unless I opt for the West Coast IPA…….

Holy Smoke - Church-Key Brewing

From a lovely growler filled by an Angel, the beer pours a dark chestnut brown, mostly opaque.  A good bit of foamy head settles pretty quicly to a ring that leaves no lace.  Aroma is immediately sweet malts, almost like candied fruit, and hints of wood and vanilla. Taste is rich and complex; there is definitley sweet sugary malts, roasty and even a little burnt.  There is also a whiskey note, with a nice charred wood background.  Somewhere in there the vanilla pokes its head out for a moment, then disappears again to let the sweet malty finish linger on  and on.  Long after the sweetness is gone, a nice touch of oak is still present.  Most people used to lagers would probably find this beer too sweet and complicated; it’s quite a mouthful, and it takes some slow sipping to really appreciate.  Definitely not a session ale, but lovely to sit back around a fire and sip.  Keeps you warm, even after a 1am dip in the lake, to see the stars “the way the fish see the stars”………  A classic, and a hard beer not to gush about and let my romanticism and fond memories cloud.  So from a non-romantic, clear point of view, let me re-iterate:  This beer is awesome!