Schilling Pivo Grodziskie

Review Date 6/28/2025 By John Staradumsky

  Style: Rauchbier   Brewery: Schilling   Country: USA   State: New Hampshire   $ Per OZ: N/A   ABV: 4.8%

Have you heard the news? Bamberg’s Brauerei Heller Trum (they make the amazing Schlenkerla line of rauchbiers) is making a grodziskie! That’s right! Exciting news, that! Still, I have even more exciting news! Schilling brewery of New Hampshire is making a Grodziskie! Well, they already did, and I have a can, which is what makes it so exciting indeed.

So, my friends I am here to tell you about Schilling Piwo Grodziskie, a smoked Polish style wheat beer. The Germans call this a Grätzer, but I have been seeing more breweries release such a beer under the Grodziskie style name. This is only the second beer I have reviewed in the style, the other being an Anderson Valley Grodziskie I enjoyed on tap at Taco Mac.

Piwo Grodziskie is our interpretation of a centuries-old Polish tradition: smoked wheat beer. Showcasing oak-smoked wheat malts, Pivo Grodziskie features surprisingly delicate but ever-present smokey highlights; a singularly soft mouthfeel; a beautiful white foam cap; and a crisp, dry finish--products of almost two months of horizontal lagering and multiple (lager and German ale) yeast strains.

Schilling Piwo Grodziskie has an alcohol content of 4.8% by volume and I paid $6.49 for my pint can from Half Time Beverage. Schilling beers are said to be available here in Georgia, though I have never seen them. I have only the singles price to go on, and as you may know, I do not evaluate pricing by singles. That’s not fair to anyone. My can was stamped 051925 on the bottom.

Schilling Piwo Grodziskie pours to a slightly hazy golden color with a moderate head of creamy foam and a nose of robust hickory smoke. Indeed, as you gaze into a glass of it, it has the appearance of an afternoon at the campground as the sun pokes through the smoke of your campfire. Taking a sip, the beer is tart and crackery and wheaty and bursts with bacony, hickory smoke and green olive notes. It’s nigh acrid, and the beer finishes smokey bitter and crackery wheaty.

This beer is simply delightful and I enjoyed the hell out of it. For me it is very close indeed to a full five stars for style and hedonistic enjoyment, and I will do the same thing I did with the Anderson Valley beer and add extra credit for brewing the style in the first place.

If you see this beer, buy this beer.

Glad I tried it?  T

Would I rebuy it??