Otter Creek Copper Ale

Yet another brewer that is relatively new to the Texas market. This one is based out of Vermont. We've been getting some of their beers here for around 6 months or so, but this was the first time I picked up any. Of course the reason was a good one. I was at a Whole Foods and they had a mix pack of 3 of their beers in 750mL along with a special Otter Creek glass. What a deal. It came with their Copper Ale, Porter, and Dubbel. The Copper Ale is their take on a traditional German Alt beer. Whats an Alt beer you ask?
Beer Style: From the wonderful Beer Judges Certification Program website here are the stats: Aroma should be of rich malts, noble hops and low on the fruity esters. The color should be light amber to bronze with an off white head. A medium bodied mouthfeel with a good amount of hop bitterness balanced with a crisp clean maltiness. Alt Beers have an interesting history behind them as well. This is a top fermented beer that is usually brewed along the Rhine River in Germany specifically in the town of Dusseldorf. When I was living over there, it was quite interesting to see the combative nature of those that were Dusseldorf Alt drinkers vs those that were Cologne Koslch drinkers. Its a long standing rivalry each thinking their beer reigns supreme. Alt is German of Old, but this is no old ale in the sense of the English style. Instead Old refers to the way its in made its defiance against change. The style gained popularity in the mid 1800's when everyone else was going crazy for lagers. As brewers and cities in Germany started to lighten their beer, Dusseldorf stayed true to their roots with this darker ale.
The Beer: This ale pours a copper color capped by a thick dense off white head of foam. The nose is of caramel and toasted malts, a bit of a hoppy presence but its subdued. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with caramel malts at the forefront and maybe what I think I taste is some Munich and Vienna malts in there as well. Good level of carbonation, and a solid amount of floral hop bitterness almost spicy a bit tinny, not citrusy like our American hops. An easily drinkable beer on a hot Texas summer day. We served this with a nice dish of summer squash stuffed with okra, corn, tomatoes and ground beef. It paired wonderfully well with the flavors. A nice beer that gets a B from me. Here's what the folks at BA think.

Schloesser Altbier

As I mentioned this past weekend, I was able to bring back an Altbier from my weekend trip to Dusseldorf. It was tonight that I decided to pop it open and give it a try. The beer weighed in at a nice 4.8%. It poured a rich copper brown, light carbonation, capped with a thick pillowy frothy white head. The nose was hoppy bitterness and copper notes. The mouth had hints of metallic flavor, brown surgar, caramel, and surprisingly low on the hop aroma. You could feel the hops, but they definitely weren't overpowering, in fact it was incredibly balanced with rich malty sweetness. Not a great beer, but a very good one.

My Trip to Dusseldorf

Three months ago, when I first said that I was coming to Cologne for work, Jay over at Hedonist Beer Jive implored me to head to Dusseldorf to taste their Altbier. This weekend I was able to do just that. Before I get in to my journey let me take a few minutes to explain Altbier.
Altbier, also called Dusseldorfer Alt since that is the primary city this particular beer is brewed in means Old, but not in the meaning of a British Stale ale, but meaning brewed in the traditional methods. While many in Germany took their dark beers and made them paler (as Cologne did to Kolsch) due to the popularity of Pilsners, Dusseldorf and the Alt brewer's stuck to their guns. Altbiers are top fermenting ales, that are then lagered for long periods of time. They have intense hop bitterness, but the hop flavor and aroma are mild. Usually full bodied, bitter, (instead of malty sweet), and range from reddish amber to a dark brown.
So back to my journey......a friend of mine took up to Dusseldorf, only an hour or so away for dinner and some Alt drinking. Since I was out, I didn't take tasting notes, but I will give my best impressions of the experience. We tasted three different Alt's: Uerige, Frankenheim, and the aformentioned Diebels. All were Von Fass or from the tap. The Uerige was tasted at the brewery and was by far my favorite. All had that nice hoppy bitterness, but surprising that the aroma and flavor was not overly hoppy, but instead elegantly well balanced between malty and hoppy, with hops winning by just a bit, creating a full bodied, refreshing beer. All were dark reddish amber, with a Start white head, and plenty of carbonation. These were beers that I would love to get to know better, so I am a little sad that I waited until the very end of my trip to try them. The good news for me was that I was able to bring a bottle of Alt back with me and plan to open it up and post my notes on it later this week.

Diebels Altbier

Altbier or 'old beer' is indigenous to Germany and specifically to the city of Dusseldorf. It gets its name, not because its an old stale beer but because of the reverent way its brewers work on keeping with the traditional methods of Rhineland brewing. Altbiers are top fermented and have copious amounts of hops.
Diebels is probably Germany's best known brewer of Altbier and is one of the few that can be found on the import market (although not in the states).
The beer: Unfortunately not from a draft but the bottle, the beer weighs in at 4.9 %. The beer pours a nice bright amber color with a bubbling frothy tan head. On the nose hops show up but nicely balanced with the sweet smell of caramel malts. The mouth is full of hops biting the tongue with toasted caramel at the finish. The beer starts with a nice harsh bite then slowly mellows leaving a long soothing caramelly aftertaste. Very nice enjoyable beer.

Victory Ten Years Alt

Well I recently made a trip to Spec's and picked up a plethora of beers that I have either wanted to try for a long time, or some that I hadn't heard of but looked interesting. The first beer is from the brewery in Downington, Pennsylvania (more on them here and here).
The Style: Altbier (Alt means Old in German) is traditionally brewed in only three cities in Germany, Dusseldorf, Hanover, and Munster. Just as in other cities in German such as Cologne and their Kolsch beers, these cities primarily drink this brew and nothing else. The other unique thing about Altbier, is that in the land of Lagers, this is an ale, top fermented at that. The ale is similar to Belgium and English ales, but it has its own very unique German style.
The Beer: The beer pours a cloudy reddish brown with a thin cream colored head, that dissipates into a thin line, with a small insignificant amount of lacing. In the nose there is sweet malt flavors, low hoppiness but some citrusy yeasty breadiness in there. In the palate there is a nice full mouthfeel A little caramel flavors and some tangy malt flavors that finish with a whack of hoppiness that doesn't overpower the roasted maltiness. At a low 4.5% this is easily something that you could stick with throughout the day. Its a very interesting unique, unlike anything that I have had. Here is what the folks over at BA say.