Probably the worst beer I ever sampled was a ‘smoked’ beer when I was stationed in Germany.
Going down? Tasted great! Two seconds later? It was as if I had licked a dirty ashtray! Can’t even imagine developing a taste for that. Yuck!
https://www.schlenkerla.de/rauchbier/geschichtee.html
Silly Germans, brew da beer, smoke da brisket..
Smoked beer is actually quite good but you need to pair it with something salty like sardines, herring or anchovies.
Rauchbier is definitely a rarer taste, but ash flavor isn’t one they normally have. Aecht Schlenkerlas are not a good place to to start drinking those, they’re on the heavier smokier side.
Try their Helles Lager, it has a much lighter flavor because they don’t use the same malts, the minimal smoke flavor is from repitching the yeast from the rauchbiers.