Over fifteen years ago, our friend and Shaun’s mentor Anders Kissmeyer set up a smoker on the front lawn to prepare the first batches of malt for Fear & Trembling. In the thirteen years since, with his guidance, we’ve continued the tradition of smoking malts for various beers—Fear & Trembling, Holger Danske, Residency #3—with wood from the property in small batches. Until now, though, we’ve not attempted a smoked lager that might echo in the great Bamberg rauchbier tradition. 

To that end, we offer Symposia. Originally conceived for our 10th Anniversary, this recipe was written from Shaun’s sensory memory of his favorite trips to Bamberg and drinking this classic style on draft in Copenhagen over the last two decades. It is a frame within a frame—a sensory impression reconstructed and modified, and a present snapshot into the memory of his past.

This single-decocted Old World German-style rauchbier, featuring malts smoked at Hill Farmstead, is lagered for more than six weeks prior to krausening with fresh-fermenting beer to provide slow, natural carbonation.