My creation won't be a Baltic porter, however, since lager-making kit is among the facilities I lack. I'll still be very happy if it ends up anything even remotely like Great Divide's Smoked Baltic Porter.This stuff is smooth to the nth degree. You expect a certain bitter liquorice roughness in a Baltic porter, but here all those edges are knocked off, with milk chocolate and a charred sweetness (think of the crispy edges on a roasted sweet potato) up front together, reducing the liquorice to a mild dry spice on the finish. There's a beautiful creaminess to the texture, and a layer of foam on top that lasts to the bottom of the glass.
At a relatively light 6.2% ABV another 650ml bottle would have been very tempting, if I had one.
Have you considered steeping some peated malt instead? Hop and Grape sell it.
ReplyDeleteI had, but not really looked into where to get it. Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteSince writing the above I've secured an extra 1.5kg of rauchmalz so I reckon I'll do an all-grain minimash and see how that turns out, then have a go with the peated.
All the smoked malt in the world won't satisfy your craving.
ReplyDeleteThat's a thesis in need of testing.
ReplyDeleteHere we go: 100% peated malt.
ReplyDelete