It’s not hard to make a beer smell like weed. A handful of breweries have done it, and it really just requires the right hops. Toss enough dank hops at your brew, and all of a sudden you can market it as “Stoner Ale.” While cool, it’s not exactly the most creative thing to ever come out of a fermenter. With that in mind, Carton Brewing has created another weed beer, but this one’s different and worth paying attention to.
Orange Swisher is, as Carton says, a Blunt Ale. Yes, a beer inspired by a blunt. And while Carton added all the hops necessary to make it smell like marijuana, they didn’t stop there in their pursuit of such a style. When you take a sip, you’ll find the beer tastes like orange-flavored tobacco. (Last year, they brewed standard Swisher without the candied orange peel and zest, but this year they drew inspiration from all those flavored tobaccos out there.) The finish of the beer is pleasantly smokey thanks to the smoked wheat used in the mash. We found it to be char-like and far more palatable than super strong Rauchbiers. So, to recap, you have a beer that smells like weed, tastes like orange tobacco, and finishes like an exhale of smoke. A beer blunt.
So does Orange Swisher deliver on its mission to taste like a flavored blunt? Kind of. It mimics the experience of smoking a blunt as best you probably could in liquid form. Not the same, but similar enough. What makes it extraordinary is the fact that Carton never lost sight of making a delicious beer in the process. It’s not a gimmick you’ll want to sip and then pour down the drain after having the experience. It’s one of the finest smoked beers we’ve ever tasted. Now could someone pass us the Funyuns?
