A Bavarian lager brewed with beechwood-smoked malt, producing a distinctive smoky-bacon character layered over a Märzen-adjacent amber lager base. Typically 4.8–6.0% ABV and amber to deep copper. The iconic style of Bamberg, where two breweries — Schlenkerla and Spezial — produce the canonical examples.
In the glass
Origin
Before indirect-fired malt kilns came into widespread use in the early 19th century, combustion gases from direct-fired kilns passed through the malt and imparted some smoke character to almost all beer. The introduction of indirect kilning stripped smoke from the mainstream palette and rendered it a specialty — most obviously preserved in Bamberg, Franconia, where smoked beer survived as a local tradition.
The canonical brewery is Schlenkerla, a hallowed Bamberg drinking establishment just 100 meters from the Romanesque cathedral. First mentioned in a 1405 document under the name “Zum Blauen Löwen” (At the Blue Lion), the pub was acquired in 1877 by one Andreas Graser, whose habit of walking with swinging arms earned him the Bamberg-dialect nickname “Schlenkerla” — Franconian for someone who shuffles along while swinging his arms. The nickname transferred first to his pub, then to his beer, and eventually became the brewery’s global brand, though its legal name remains Brauerei Heller-Trum. The Trum family still runs the operation; Matthias Trum represents the sixth generation.
Schlenkerla’s flagship — Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen, “aecht” being Franconian for “true” or “original” — is the reference point that defined the modern style. The brewery still operates its own malting floor, kiln-drying barley over aged beechwood fires. A second Bamberg brewery, Spezial, produces a less assertive interpretation; rauchbier exists today as a distinct style almost entirely through these two breweries’ continued commitment to smoking their own malt on-site.
Notes
Rauchbier often lands unfamiliar on a first sip — the smoke reads as bacon, cured meat, or campfire — and tends to grow compelling by the third or fourth. It pairs exceptionally well with smoked meats and hearty food, a local Franconian staple, and has long been a favorite accompaniment to cigars. The 2026 Brewers Association guidelines’ Bamberg-Style Rauchbier is specifically the Märzen-based smoked lager; other smoked beers (smoke porter, smoked weissbier, etc.) fall under a broader “Other Smoked Beer” category. The 2021 Beer Judge Certification Program guidelines treat the style as Märzen-based by default at 6B “Rauchbier.”
Defining examples
Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen·Spezial Rauchbier Lagerbier·Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock·Spezial Rauchbier Märzen·Eichhorn Rauchbier