Grodziskie Smoked Wheat – 2.5%
We like to showcase unusual styles and a Grodziskie is certainly up there! Inspired by a beer released by the excellent Steam Machine in their Fellowship of Beer last year. Then an amazing example of one in a Pirate Metal Craft Beer bar in Warsaw, we had to have a go. Coming out of Polish/East German regions, a Grodziskie (sometimes known as a Grätzer) is a highly carbonated lower strength wheat beer brewed entirely with oak smoked wheat malt.
Our edition comes in at a very modest 2.5% which is ideal for a summer session. It’s brewed with 80% smoked wheat and 20% standard wheat malt, so nicely smokey, but light and defiantly refreshing.
And why “Gorka Smolt”…? Inspired by the great graphic artwork of Wiktor Gorka, a pioneer of mid 20th posters in Poland, we added the Smokey-Malt adjunct (aka made up word!) to christen it.
MUSIC PAIRING
Inferno by Boards of Canada
After a very long wait of 13 years BoC finally emerged with various teases (one involving a mail out of VHS tapes), then an epic 70 minutes of expansive and superbly crafted sounds. Using more live instrumentation in places, it builds smouldering menace up meshed with uncomfortable process speech and then provides moments of tranquil release. Whilst not matching some previous efforts it still sets an ambitiously high bar. The title also strangely prescient in it’s timing – coming out at the fading end of the first heatwave of 2026.