While I review their beers far too infrequently, I am a long-time big-fan of Church-Key Brewing. An early micro-brewery favourite of mine, Church-Key is located right along the “back roads” route to my wife’s family cottage. Sure, you could take the 401 to Napanee, then head north to the cottage, but then you would miss the Tyrone Mill (locally produced milled products from flour to cider to cedar tongue and groove, as well as preserves and honey, and best of all, fresh fried apple fritters), The Madoc Dairy (Southern-style fried chicken, battered wedge fries, and rich milkshakes; also dairy products like butter, butter milk, etc), the variety of fruit/vegetable stands (everything from wild blueberries to maple syrup to corn to tomatoes to potatoes and more), and best of all, Church-Key Brewing. It is a rare event (usually caused by making the trip late in the day) that I don’t stop at Church-Key on our way up. This was the first brewery we took Ben to, when he was about 2 months old. We served 3 cases of their Holy Smoke scotch ale at our wedding rehearsal party. Their cranberry-maple-wheat beer nearly brings tears to my eyes. It goes without saying, I’m a fan. In addition to a respectable line-up of regular beers, they also produce a series of one-off beers that are experimental, or just Jon the owner/brewer having fun. These range from sours, to imperial IPAs, to a Biere de Garde, and beyond. When we were heading up to the cottage a few weekends ago, I (as usual) stopped by, and grabbed this bottle in my batch of weekend brews (a 6 of Holy Smoke and a growler of West Coast Pale Ale). I love smoked beers, and I love Church-Key. I can hardly wait!
Church-Key Brewing Put That In Your Pipe And Smoke It — Smoked Ale
From a 650ml Bomber, Put That In Your Pipe And Smoke It pours a deep dark brown, touching on black. Nearly opaque, there are glimmers of reddish-brown when held up to a bright light. About 1/2″ of head drops to a nice layer of fuzzy head fairly quickly. Aroma is lovely and a bit surprising. It’s not overly smokey, rather, you get a nicely sweet malty profile, with a pleasing woody aroma that touches on smoke. There are hints of coffee in that smoke, but it’s very delicate. Having had rauchbeirs from Bamberg, the aroma already is promising a less aggressive smoke character. Taste is quite interesting, nicely roasty malts with that pleasing touch of smoke, but still nothing super aggressive. Coffee and maybe a touch of molasses are there, also a hint of cocoa as the beer warms. I assume to somebody who has never had a smoked beer, this would be, well, smokey, but I think it’s a wonderfully well balanced example. Porter-like qualities, with a bit of smoke that compliments and supports the darkly roasted character of the malts. Mouthfeel is actually quite creamy and smooth, with a nice lightly prickly carbonation. A great beer and nice example of the “smoked beer” category. I’m glad I thought to pick it up!
Cheers to Jon and the crew at Church-Key!
Buy This Beer
Well, I bought it at the brewery, in Pethrick’s Corners, which is just outside of Campbellford, which is not too far from Peterborough, which is an hour east of Toronto. With me? Seriously, while a little out of the way, it’s a great brewery to visit, with a lot of the day-to-day operations still happening in the old church building. In addition to the brewery retail store (which close at “dark”; set your watch accordingly), you can probably also get it at their bar in town, The Stinking Rose. I know bottles of Church-Key appear at Volo from time to time, and it’s conceivable they are around other bars too. No matter, it will be worth the effort!
Drink It With
Well, the obvious choices are things involving smoke: BBQ, smoked cheeses, etc. On the BBQ front, I probably wouldn’t pair it with a big saucy piece of pork or beef, showing off sweet/sour flavours. Ribs are out, as is brisket. Pulled-pork could work if you kept it more South Carolina (either a mustard or vinegar-based sauce). A slow-smoked game bird would be phenomenal with this, especially with a nicely tart jam or preserve; think along the line of cranberry sauce. For cheeses, a smoked cheddar would be fine, though perhaps a touch sharp, whereas a smoked gouda would likely be divine. My dark-horse call is cold-smoked salmon. The rich fattiness from the fish with the creamy weight of the body would be great, and the smoke (often alder for cold-smoked salmon) would go well with the beechwood smoke in the beer. Serve it on a whole grain slice of bread (perhaps with some amount of dark malted barley in it) and a layer of fresh cream cheese and you could well be in heaven. Leave the capers in the jar; I don’t think the saltiness would add anything to the mix.
About The Brewery
Founded in 2000, Church-Key Brewing is located in an 1878 Methodist Church on the outskirts of the town of Campbellford, Ontario.
The only microbrewery in picturesque Northumberland County, Church-Key features a variety of award-winning hand-crafted ales including our flagship Northumberland Ale and the multi award-winning Holy Smoke Scotch Ale. All of our ales are made in small batches from four ingredients: malted barley, hops, water, and yeast. Within these traditions, each Church-Key product has distinct properties of color, richness, and aroma that make it unique.
Open daily from 10am until dark, visitors are always welcome to learn all about the brewing process on a guided tour. Afterwards, sample our excellent ales in the tasting room. All of our ales are available in our gift shop in six-packs and Growlers along with local honey and bison products, and Church-Key clothing and glassware.
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