Widmer Brothers Double Alt (84/09)

Brewed by Widmer Brothers Brewing Company
Style: Altbier
Portland, Oregon USA

Pours brown with a moderate beige head that fell to a thin film, leaving a little lacing as I drank. Sweet malty aroma. Has a very caramelly, brown sugar flavor, with a toastiness. The sweet side of this is not unlike a good brown sugar cookie. The spicy, moderately bitter hops balance out the strong sweetness well. Has a moderately rich mouthfeel and a light, not too harsh alcohol finish. I went into this expecting to dislike it and was pleasantly surprised.

Pours medium brown with a suggestion of amber to red in there as well. Head is tan, thick, and retains well. Nose has some bready notes, caramel/toffee, and fruit that mixes in and almost reminds me of black forest cake. Palate is disappointing with the alcohol shining through so much. Some warm caramel to brown sugar sweetness is noted, and overall the body is fairly nice, but the alcohol heat kicks in midway through the finish and spoils the show for me.

bottle. dark tawny brown, clear. patchy toasted bread crust of a head. nose is heavy caramel malt: vanilla extract, maple, caramel and toffee, light touch of wood, noble hops impart a rough aromatic texture without any sort of grassyness that would interfere with the malt. medium to full body, frothy and chewy with a rough edge of noble hop bitterness and toasted bread crusts. surprisingly drinkable, perhaps widmer got lucky with this one or perhaps it’s more of a mood beer with me, but at the time I enjoyed it. could do without the small amount of metal/glass bottle flavor that was present but overall it was better than expected.

From a 22 oz bottle this poured a very dark mahogany color with a tan head and light lacing. Nose of malts and ripe fruit. Mouthfeel slick and gooey. The flavor starts out with molasses and raisins, and finished lightly bitter. But it is the finish that fails with this brew. It begins to taste like cough syrup and alcohol. You want to go wash your mouth out.

Bomber. Aroma of sweet malt, raisins; I’ve had barleywines which smell pretty similar to this. Pours dark brown with a decent head, decent lacing. What do ya know, it tastes like barleywine, with raisins and molasses being the dominant flavors. Hop bitterness, alcohol in the aftertaste. Not too bad.

Wow, what a mess. Completely overdone. No balance. Way to alcohol hot and flavor. Terrible dry palate.

Bottle: Mahogany ruby color with tan head, nose of oak, berry and molasses. Sweet maple and rich malty goodness. Pleasing caramellized flavor, intense but subtle balanced hops and light alcohol. Barleywineish but a slight roasty note.

Bomber. Heavy malt aroma of sweet caramel. Deep amber body with off white head. Thicker body teaxture and filling brew. With the malt backbone most prevelant, Milky film aslo present. Not bad of beer was a good napcap.