New Glarus Alt

Brewed by New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Altbier
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

12oz bottle, courtesy of scubarex. Thanks, Russ! Pours a murky, deep and dark amber-orange color; creamy light-tan head with small bubbles, great retention and resilient lacing; lovely pour aside from the muddy clarity. The aroma on this is nothing like one would expect from an alt, and more closely approaches their Unplugged cherry and oak beers: lots of red candy fruitiness, ripe cherries, and toasty, creamy vanilla-laden oakiness; this is a touch sweet, but thankfully the fruit note isn’t as overripe as some of their other releases (it’s fresh, almost bing-like with a hint of citrusy tartness); smoothly integrated, edgeless, rich, and pleasantly intricate nose (especially for the style); a lovely approach. Medium-full body: lively carbonation, creamy texture, and significant hop bitterness on the tip of the tongue; medium-high acidity; the red candied fruit character takes a much more prominent role in the mouth, actually putting this more in line with what I’d expect from an alt; the maltiness is (apparently) slightly underattenuated, which tends to overemphasize the sweetness and lush notes of fresh red fruit (non-sour cherries, apples, strawberries) and creamy vanilla contributed by the oak; there’s a touch of overripeness here, but the fruit character overall is dense, reasonably ripe, and quite expressive; lots of stuff going on here, and I only wish the sweetness at the core could be turned down a bit; you can catch some significant noble hop character, but it’s not nearly enough bitterness to settle things down; a hugely interesting alt rendition, overall, just sweet. It’s funny: the vanilla and oakiness seem hugely volatile in the aroma, and whether I’m acclimatizing to it or not, the noble hops become much more expressive in the nose halfway through the glass. Lasting, toasty finish (some pleasant dryness partially emerging): cereal, toasty malts, hints of lingering oakiness and hints of fruit; very pleasant ending.

Nose is toasty and sharply fruity. Amber pour no head. Toasty, sharp fruity notes, touch of bitterness and caramel/toast.

Howdy, cowpokes. Uh, I know I shouldn’t be interrupting in the middle of a song, but I got to tell you something. I know a lot of you out there really love this music, but I just don’t get it. Explain it to me. And maybe it’s ’cause I went to college, and I never drove a truck and had sex with my daddy’s sister, but...I guess what I’m trying to say is, I...I don’t think I’m the man for this job. So this is your old pal Hopalong Howie saying I quit. I... I think I quit.

Light amber with medium head. Big caramel malt aroma and taste with vanilla added in. Moderate sweetness. Very clean and well put together. Lovely. I’d love to be able to get their stuff all the time. Thanks CaptainCougar!

12oz bottle. Pours a clear darker copper color with thick frothy off-white creamy colored foam with thick lacing. Aroma is surprisingly fruity and sharp, rich nicely oxidized malts, some cherry, seemingly starting to turn sour in a flemish way, mellow banana/phenolic, some grassiness compliments the rich smooth aged malts very well, munich malts maybe, rich toffee-like. Flavor follows, this is a very cool beer, flavor follows the aroma except the the wood vessels and rich toffee are more dominant, love the slight phenolic sour twang, slightly reminds me of the capital blonde doppelbock but with more character, some hop fruitiness strongly accents the alcohol and rich maltiness very well, dries out in the middle before the fairly quick sharp rich finish leaving a woody brown sugar aftertaste, actually this beer is very butterscotchy, yup it is butterscotch. Medium bodied with fizzy fluffy carbonation, a bit glassy sticky feeling. Sour cheesy woody butterscotch... fantastic!

A faint tangy berry aroma that I can’t identify, not strong. Murky ochre, medium yellow head with little retention. The flavor is of whiskey with a bready rye finish. Not representative of the altbier style. Should be an american strong. Has some bright spots, but I have to say I’m starting to tire of these whiskey soaked messes.

12 oz. bottle - thanks bvc!! clear, dark gold; think bubbly white head; lots of carbonation; candy, malty, yeasty aromas with faint tartness, caramel and wheat; soft and slightly dry; bananas, candy malt, creamy sweet; wow, an amazing beer; deceptively simple; crisp, clean and sweet