Brewery – Blank Slate
Beer – Fume
Style – Smoked Brown Porter
ABV – 5.4%
IBUs – 33

There was a time when all dark beers had a smoky flavor. Grains were traditionally roasted over an open flame. Then technology took over. Blank Slate’s Smoked Porter pays homage to those early days. Unlike many traditional smoke beers which are smoked with Beechwood, Fume uses Cherrywood smoked malt which gives this Brown Porter a very refined smoke character with a unique flavor profile.

Even aside from the fun style of Brown Porter, which we don’t seem to see often enough from craft breweries.  This beer gets a leg up in the creativity department with the addition of the smoked cherrywood malt that is added.  Blank Slate manages to use just enough of the smoked malt to give this beer an extremely distinctive flavor, without letting it become all about the smoke.

This beer should probably hit the tastebuds in the right spot for quite a few different types of drinkers, or fans of a few different styles.  It’s right in line with almost everything else that comes out of the taps in the taproom.

My Thoughts On Blank Slate Fume

The beer pours a dark reddish, brown color with a tan head on top.

Drifting off the top of the liquid is a fantastic aroma of caramel, and light smokiness with a touch of chocolate too.

The flavor is deep and really well-rounded.  I get a really nice roasted caramel flavor, with a touch of the chocolate that I had in the aroma, with a backbone that is all the sweet cherrywood smoke, which somehow ties it all in together and gives the beer a really nice, well-rounded quality.

This is a great beer and one of my favorite uses of smoked malt that I’ve found.