Göller Rauchbier

Review Date 11/13/2023 By John Staradumsky

  Style: Rauchbier   Brewery: Göller   Country: Germany   State: N/A   $ Per OZ: $.30 (B)   ABV: 4.9%

Adventures with Göller beer! That may be the theme of my 2023 trip to Helen, Georgia for Oktoberfest. You can get the details if you like by reading my review of Göller Dunkel. I’ll wait for you…….welcome back! So now you know how my first experience with Göller went. After enjoying my first bottle of Göller and having lots of Gemütlichkeit in general, inevitably, the next morning came. Before going home, I did as I always do and stopped at Alpine Brew Bottle Haus to stock up on German treats to take home. As usual, I was not disappointed there. They have a wonderful selection of German beers.

Those included Göller biers. They did not have the Dunkel I had drunk the night before, else I would have bought some. They had the Original though (a pilsner) and the Baptist Helles; I bought a bottle of each. Much to my delight, they also had Göller Rauchbier! Two bottles of that came home with me, as I just love Rauchbiers and was shocked to see this one. German Rauchbiers are a rare sight in the USA, and these made fine companions to the various bottles of Schlenkerla Rauchs I also bought at Alpine.

About their Rauchbier Göller says:

Unsere Interpretation dieser traditionell fränkischen Bierspezialität fällt vergleichsweise mild-rauchig aus. Und das stößt auf Begeisterung! Auszeichnungen bei Meiningers International Craft Beer Award und dem European Beer Star sprechen für sich.

Which means if you don’t speak German:

Our interpretation of this traditional Franconian beer specialty is comparatively mildly smoky. And that is met with enthusiasm! Awards at Meininger's International Craft Beer Award and the European Beer Star speak for themselves.

Göller Rauchbier has an alcohol content of 4.9% by volume and I paid $4.99 each for my bottles from Alpine. My bottle is marked Best By 21.09.2023.

Göller Rauchbier pours to a beautiful mahogany color with a thick creamy tan head and a nose of hickory and bacon smoke. When I popped the top off my swingtop bottle, I got a puff of more intense, concentrated smokiness, but that became more subtle after I let the beer breathe a bit. A sip reveals a soft, nutty, lightly chocolaty base beer, a Dunkel! Not as robust as the Göller Dunkel I drank a week before in Helen, but respectable all the same.

The smoke notes resonate throughout, not as robustly as in Schlenkerla, but quite distinct indeed: you know you are drinking a Rauchbier. Finishes balanced from the smoke more than anything else, and makes me want another sip, and then another. Outstanding.

 Glad I tried it?  T

Would I rebuy it??