Hannen Alt

Brewed by Hannen (Oettinger/Carlsberg)
Style: Altbier
Mönchengladbach, Germany

Serve in Kölsch/Altbier

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Pours a nice clear amber color. Aromas of burnt malts, dark fruit, and some spice. Flavors of caramel, a touch a chocolate and nutmeg?.

(500 ml bottle) Mmm, wow that cocoa flavor is pretty tasty! Strong cocoa and powdered chocolate mix, moderately sweet, slightly grainy, grassy, very lightly bitter, this is like drinking chocolate milk, especially in the finish of this beer. The nose is a bit more grainy, but this beer still smells like sweet cocoa. Medium bodied, a bit chalky, and lightly carbonated, this is easy on the palate and extremely drinkable. Medium brown and slightly hazy. The off-white head is slow to build, and even then, doesn’t rise to more than a quarter inch max, and settles to a broken film. I wish I could remember where I bought this because I’d get more. A unique brew that I found rather enjoyable.

Standard copper color with a generous fluffy initial head, great retention, very nice lacing all the way down. The aroma was a little funky, some chemical/plastic type aromas over some grassy hops, caramel. Flavor was a train wreck of some semi-sweet sickly tasting caramel sloppily placed at the fore with nasty chemical and plastic flavors. Grassy hops more noticeable in this alt than any other alt I’ve had, although nothing like a pilsner. Just a bad beer from my favorite style, no idea what they were shooting for. If this were the first altbier I’d tasted, I probably still wouldn’t be a beer drinker today. Mouthfeel was dry.

(bottle) pours a clear amber-ruby colour with a frothy off-white head. aroma of gorgonzola cheese, grain, cardboard, light caramel, peppery hops and barbecue sauce. flavour is mostly roasted malts, light popcorn and caramel, with a hint of milk chocolate and a slightly acrid grainy finish. medium-bodied with average carbonation.

Bottled:
Light bitter aroma, fresh with notes odf hop. Flavor is malty and roasty, rainy and light bitter. Long bitter and dry finish.

Sweet, nutty, roasted malt nose. Caramel-brown body with large bubbles in the tan head. Chocolately, malty and a little buttery (but not bad). Slight dry finish. Warm round mouth feel with a gritty palette. Pretty good stuff.

This alt pours with a muddy brown body topped by a thin head with little lacing. The aroma is slightly sweet, malty and nutty with a slight butterscotch note. The flavor is slightly sweet, malty and slightly nutty with a nice bitterness for balance and a touch of roastiness. Medium bodied, smooth and dry.

Aroma a bit disappointing: grain, corn and of course malt. Nice brown body with hints of red and a little head on top. Very malty, grainy aroma with coffeeflavor. Dry finish with a bitter aftertaste. I remémber a liked it much better out of a bottle but it’s hard to get in the north of Germany.

50cl bottle shared with my wife on 8th Jan 2013: poured into designer ’Hannen Alt’ glasses. I am old enough to remember when the head brewer left Hannen to join Diebels Alt and the problems Hannen had afterwards: took them a long time to recover. Anyway: back to this bottle. Can’t believe I’ve not had a bottle for so long. Nice bright chestnut brown body with a full, deep head of off-white foam on top. The nose is malty: brown bread and yeasty with a few mixed nuts thrown in. Taste wise it follows the aromas: malts, nuts and bread yeasts lead the way with some dark fruits making a weak bid to get in on the act. The beer seems full bodied and flavoursome, becoming slightly drier towards the end of each sip: I’ve missed this beer.

UPDATED: OCT 18, 2012 cereal, barnyard, alcohol, cooked vegetables, chocolate, coffee, red, frothy, cloudy, medium sweetness, very bitter, lightly sour, full body, creamy, bitter, long finish,