Carolina Brewery Alter Ego Altbier

Brewed by Carolina Brewery
Style: Altbier
Chapel Hill, North Carolina USA

Serve in Kölsch/Altbier

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There are some interesting flavors in this beer, but they don’t really come together. Despite the inviting commercial description, this ale is rather thin and tasteless.

On tap @ brewery. Poured a clear amber color with a thin off-white head. Light toasted grain and malty aroma. Taste was refreshing, with a lot toastiness and a nice clean finish. Decent.

Dark copper pour thin fizzy head. Malty aroma. Thin bodied dominated by caramel flavor

Draught. Pours dark brown, with off-white head. Aroma is very malty, chocolate and caramel. Flavor is also malty. Soft mouth feel, bitter at the end, but very sweet up to that point.

pint, at Tylers Apex. Good aroma, sweet. Caramel, fruity (berry, orange) cardboard. Orangy brown color, small head that faded quick, no lace. Bitter flavor, like aroma, with what I call cardboard mellowing the other characteristics. Medium body, creamy mouthfeel, bitter dry finish. Nice brew, easy to drink. Aroma was best part. I sniffed a while before sniffing, flavor was a bit more subdued.

On tap at brewery. small fizzy off-white (quickly and fully dissapating) head into amber body. aromas of moderate spices, light hops, moderate malts (toffee). flavor is moderate sweet and light bitter. moderate finish length. good stuff; impressive.

Date: 04/12/2008
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewfest, Hickory Hops

Appearance: clear amber, fine dirty white head,
Aroma: dry caramel aroma with an earthy character,
Flavor: sweet caramel malt flavor, light earthyness adds some balance, light bitterness from the earthy character,

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.6/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

Draught at the brewpub. Part of the sampler. Copper brown, no chill haze. Thin fizzy offwhite head. The aroma was sweet, malty, crisp, a little grainy, not too upfront. The flavor was similar sweet and very crisp, tastes like a lager. malty and grainy, didnt stand out too much.

Draught at the brewpub. Pours a dark brown copper with no head and a little lace. Color seems to be right on for the style and I can never remember having an altbier with any sort of substantial head so I won’t take off points there. Serving temperature was way too cold (as is often the case here) so I found it difficult to pick up much from the nose. Some caramel malt is all I wrote down. Flavor is slightly bitter and malty with a sort of lagerish/ Carolina Brewery house character in the finish. Smooth, easy drinking, without any real noticeable flaws. Of course, I still have very limited experience with this style so that must be taken into account but it seems on point with many of the others I have sampled. This beer doesn’t do much for me, but I am beginning to enjoy the subtle beers--the session lagers and ales that are rich with the brewing history.

From notes 5/5/03: Pours a clear deep amber brown, very brown. A frothy beige head forms and laces well all throughout. Little aroma here. This is my 3rd Carolina Brewery selection of the day and there is little aroma to any of them. A sweet malty taste. Slightly creamy. A relatively healthy body here, creamy as well. A filling beer. Nice malt profile with a touch of hop to balance it out. Malt-lovers would find this a must-get.

Draught at the brewpub. Clear copper color with thin off white head. Caramel malt and sprucy hops dominate the aroma with a pinch of brown sugar. Spicy and dry. Moderately carbonated. Mostly caramel and toffee flavors, but subtle. Occasionally there was a hint of clove. Lingering cereal grain aftertaste.