Beavertown Brewery
Smog Rocket Smoked Porter
5.4%
Tottenham, London, UK

I’ve almost reviewed ALL of the Beavertown range now and if you care to see what I think of Gamma Ray, 8 Ball and Black Betty then tab away. If you can’t be arsed to look then let’s just say I fucking loved them (scores were 4, 5, 5). I decided to do something different with the Smog Rocket. As I mentioned in my review of Black Betty Beavertown have recently smashed their production of canned beers and now they’re everywhere.

My mum asked for a beer recommendation in Honest Burger last weekend so of course I pointed her towards Gamma Ray. Half expecting a pint or even a bottle a can arrived and her face was one of confusion. I explained to her the benefits of cans and so on but then I wondered if there was a difference in taste. So I picked up a can and bottle of Smog Rocket to test it out.

Cans are easy to store, certainly a lot easier to open on trains, parks etc and better for the environment. I suspect they are much cheaper for breweries to produce and deliver out to bars and shops so assuming there is no taste difference it is the way forward, right? I always imagine that the beer will taste a bit ‘canny’ (metallic) however that’s incorrect. The Smog Rocket has that smoky full flavour that you get when you order a pint. It’s rich and tastes just like you’d imagine a roasted fire at winter would. Delicious. So the taste is definitely not in question. There was a lot of head when it was poured into a glass, so let’s see how the bottle compares.

As a bottle collector (look at my Instagram for my on-going collection), I’m slightly bias but I most definitely prefer the bottle version of this beer. I really like the Lichtenstein-inspired new designs Beavertown have however I just prefer bottles. The taste isn’t too dissimilar, however perhaps psychologically I side with the bottle’s flavour. The smell is better, the taste is richer and it doesn’t taste as bitter but then this could be because I’ve already got accustomed to the flavour. Who knows?

OVERALL: 3/5

This is excellent beer and has left me still pondering the bottle vs can debacle. I should add that both of these beers were kept at the same temperature before serving and purchased at the same time to make it as fair as possible.