"josh bernstein" news and stories

Photo: Schlenkerla

Joshua M. Bernstein, Gourmet.com's beer columnist, has written about brews, bars and booze for New York Magazine, Time Out New York, ForbesTraveler.com and the New York Times.

October's chilly winds are causing us to reach for beers that warm our stomachs. And what better beer to stoke a belly fire than one that, well, smells like fire?

So we turn to rauchbiers, an ancient German style in which green malts are roasted over beechwood flames. This imparts a deep, profound smokiness -- imagine a flannel shirt after roasting marshmallows by a campfire. These flavored malts are the building blocks for the beers of Bamberg, Germany's Schlenkerla, a leading rauchbier practitioner.

"They make world-class smoked beers. They set the standard," says Matthias Neidhart, of B. United International, the beer's American importer. Schlenkerla's brews range from the light Helles Lagerbier to what Neidhart calls "the most intensely smoky version": the Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock.

Elementally, bocks are strong lagers -- beers designed to combat the cold weather with extra alcohol. And the Urbock is no exception, clocking in at a robust 6.6 percent ABV. Equally stout is the complex aroma, a rich mixture of sweet smoked meat (mmm...bacon) and a touch of tobacco and chocolate. Needless to say, vegetarians will likely crinkle their noses. But drinkers who dare decant the ruby, translucent Urbock are rewarded by a surprisingly smooth ride, the smoky-malt flavor revealing nuances of oatmeal and even the odd hop or two.

But let's not sugarcoat things: Urbock is a little bit like drinking a BBQ dinner.

Care for rauchbiers? Think they're crud? Spill some science in the comments.

To put it mildly, Norway is not known for its beer.

"About 98 percent of the beer consists of light lagers," sighs tall, bearded Kjetil Jikiun, cofounder and brewmaster of Nøgne Ø, one of Norway's scant microbreweries. "Norwegians," he laments, "don't know much about craft beer."

Jikiun is the exception: Since launching Nøgne Ø (naked isle) six years ago, the gregarious, bespectacled Norwegian has begun altering his country's carbonated landscape. He crafts bold, flavorful beers more in line with American microbrews than Norway's watery lagers. "Most bars there just have one beer on tap," he says, holding court in New York City's multi-tap beer bar Jimmy's No. 43. "You just order a beer-no choice needed." But Jikiun, an ex–airline pilot who sampled suds wherever he landed, liked choice. He began homebrewing, looking toward American microbrewers for inspiration. "Everybody I served my homebrews to liked them, so I though there'd be a market," he says of launching Nøgne Ø.