Today I welcomed two old friends back into my life.
First, out of the blue, I got a text message from RealTrainGirl. She is apparently finished being pissed at me, though she denies having ever been, and wanted to see if I was going to Rich O's after work. I was, and she did too.
The second reunion of the day was in the form of NABC's Cone Smoker, back after being gone for over a year. Of course I had some.
New Albanian Cone Smoker (Second Coming)
(draft) The second brewing of this beer, this time from NABC's new brewer, has a slightly tweaked recipe. Or so I hear. Pretty good. To compare to the rauchbiers that I've had the most of lately: Slightly less bite than Spezial, slightly less smoke than NABC Noble Smoker, but could probably pass for either one. Very minimal carbonation though - a trait that's pretty common with all NABC beers.
To tell the truth, I'm not enough of a beer guru to understand the difference between this and the NABC Noble Smoker that ran in the Spring. I'm also not sure I understand the need for two such similar brews in the NABC stable. Buy hey, when it comes to rauchbiers, the more the merrier.
Also, this near-total lack of carbonation has become something of a trademark for this little brewery. I find it to be something that I just put up with, like the broken springs on the sofa and the fruit flies that surround me whenever I have a Belgian beer.
