Beer Spotlight!

Jack’s Abby Smoke & Dagger

$10.99 for the 16oz four-pack cans
Bavarian Style Smoked Dark Lager

When the Hendler Brothers were young, their parents shipped all three of them — Eric, Sam, and Jack — to their grandfather during the summer to work in the family’s ice distribution company. (Forced to chill with ice in the summer, that’s cold … literally.) Where the experience would’ve left us drinking luke warm water for life to cope with having gotten the cold shoulder from two generations of guardians, it taught the brothers the value of “committed family members and loyal employees.” These lessons carried them into banding together to open Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers in 2011.

Based in Framingham, MA, Jack’s Abby specializes in making lagers. Today, that’s a trendy thing to do, but it was not so much the fad in 2011. Still the brothers did and do commit to that plan, going to Germany every year to purchase malts and hops from small family affairs like themselves. Eric is the finance officer. Sam is the CEO, and Jack is the Chief Production Officer and Head Brewer. Abby is Jack’s wife. So, they’ve named the brewery after his Abby, not yours. (No Framingham monks were harmed in the making of these lagers.)

The Smoke & Dagger wins points for having one of the cleverest rauchbier (“smoke beer”) plays-on-words and even more points for being so tasty. Almost creamy, this is a dark, chocolaty lager made with beechwood smoked malt. The trick is that only 15% of the malt is smoked, so rather than get that smack of bacon flavor, you get a spicy ashiness that increases the beer’s richness and character. The Smoke & Dagger is also one of the many lagers that Jack’s Abby decocts, giving it a welcome depth. It’s so rich and full, you’ll forget that it’s a lager. Heck, it’s so rich and full, we want to see what they do with a Doppebock. Drink the Smoke & Dagger on the cold side of cool but not ice cold. (The boys probably have had enough of ice.)

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