Frankenheim Alt

Brewed by Privatbrauerei Frankenheim (Warsteiner)
Style: Altbier
Düsseldorf, Germany

Serve in Kölsch/Altbier

Pours a copper-brown, with less than a half-inch of foam. A little bit of this cream-colored head sticks around for the whole the glass. It leaves pretty good lacing throughout. Slightly malty in the aroma, not a whole lot. Smooth toasted caramel malt in the flavor. There is some type of fruity malty flavor that I have only had in an alt that I don’t know how to describe. A slight bit of roastiness is in there too - subtle yet complex. Well carbonated with a medium body. A bit of spicy hops in the finish. Very clean, smooth, and drinkable.

Bottle lager glass. Malty aroma, with a touch of noble hops. Flavor has less sweet malts than the nose provides. Clear amber to light brown color. decent beige head. Nothing offensive but nothing exciting either. Not bad.

Vom fass (I’m sure) @ Fischhaus, Altstadt, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Served up a bright, tawny amber with a big, soapy, off-white head that surpassed through to the tails and laced well down the glass. Earthy, though sweetish, woody nose with just a touch of roasted grains, toffee and fell, over-ripe fruit. Mild, soft, frothy and dry in the mouth. Woody dominance gives it a Scottish fare. Tangy in back and slightly tannic as it moves on through into the swallow. Slightly nutty like pistachio and almonds, trails off woody also. Not much to it really, almost watery overall. It hit the spot right but the spot got tired and onto the next Brauhaus my wife and I went. Average Alt.

On draught, Aachen. Clear, deep copper with a thick, lacing offwhite head. Fruity aroma. Fruity and grassy hoppiness marry well with caramel malts flavours. Medium body, dry mouthfeel. Agreeable, but not übersexy.

Tasting of 10 altbiers. This had a nice personal taste compared to other alts. And not in a bad way. Different hops? Not too much aftertaste, yet little bite in the end. Quite pleasant overall, one of the best.

On tap. First time I tried the altbier style, and it was not bad. Dark brown colour, nice head. Sweet/hoppy.

Tap. I lived In Dusseldorf for a year, and found Frankenheim the perfect alt style: not too sweet, not too dry (and believe me, I tried all of them, a lot). At the Frankenheim itself, on Am Wehrhahn, they bring the alt as a given, in 250 ml galsses, and then ask what you want. Every time you get close to finishing, another glass appears. Inside, the bringing up up of kegs from the cellar, tapping, and pouring of hundreds of glasses is a continuous process, especially in summer. Soapy head, small bubbles, nice hops bite. Reading the bottle reviews, seems this is an alt best experienced live, because I thought it was Great.

UPDATED: AUG 22, 2006 The aroma is metallic and malty with a very small amount of hops. The appearance is chocolate brown with an average head. The flavor has toffee, paper, chocolate, cereal, and somewhat astringent. The palate is chalky. The aftertaste is bitter accompanied by what seem to be esters. Overall it’s an average beer to me.