This beer from De Molen is a little outside the box. As they do, De Molen are non-committal as they describe this beer as being ‘Stout and Porter-ish’. That leaves thing pretty open then!
To be a little more specific, this is a smoked stout combining English peat smoked malts and another smoked malt from Bamburg in Germany (the home of smoked malts). This unlikely combination gave rise to the name.
In the words of the brewery: “Anyone who watched Faulty Towers knows how hard it is to create a lasting peace between the English and the Germans. It cost us blood, sweat and tears but we are convinced we succeeded”.
The aroma is strongly of smoked malt, even smoked meats. But allow the beer to warm and the flavour range is immense. For all the smoky malt, there is a big dose of chocolate. There is also dark berries, a woody character, something slightly vinuous as well as some hop bitterness.
There is a lot to this beer, and it may be a little divisive. But let it warm, sip through the initial palette shock, and you will find a truly interesting beer.