Wheatland Spring Rauch Tater Märzen

Notes: Layered biscuit, molasses, savory sage, subtle smoke, earthy This is our first collaboration and meant to celebrate the season, the harvest, and the small farms that make local agriculture possible. We partnered with our farming neighbors, Moutoux Orchard, to create this Imperial Märzen made with smoked sweet potatoes, sage, and brown sugar. The name, Rauch Tater, hints at our approach to this beer. With a wink to northern Bavarian Rauchbier, which uses smoked malt for often deep smokey flavors, we opted for a subtle smoke component — more earthy than smokey— as a guidepost for the flavors to meet. Instead of smoked grain, the sustainably-grown sweet potatoes from Moutoux Orchard were smoked at our farm with local apple and cherry wood. The sweet potatoes were then put in the 100% Virginia grain mash with local sage. The waft of smoke provides an earthy taste that connects the malt and molasses with a velvety mouthfeel from the sweet potatoes. This is capped with a savory and dry finish at the top, thanks to the sage.