BluCreek AltBier

BluCreek Brewing Company
Brewed at Sand Creek Brewing Co. (Pioneer/Wisconsin Brewing Co.)
Style: Altbier
Madison, Wisconsin USA

Bottle (12oz). Deep mahogany red-brown, clear, with a solid beige creamy-foamy head. Light aroma, but good - dry toasted roast malt, hints of chocolate and nutshell. The taste follows, and has a nice mild soft hop bitterness, but the roast malt and nuttiness seems a bit extract-y - not bad, but it’s a somewhat false note on my palate. Soft, light body, okay astringency, sharp carbonation and a syrupy aftertaste. Not too bad.

Picked up a single 12-oz bottle from The Coffee Grounds in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Pours a clear coppery amber brew with a thick off-white head that slowly dissolves and develops large bubbles in the center with good lacing on the glass side. Aroma is slightly tart toasted caramel malt, some milk chocolate, Ivory soap, peat and some herbal/flowery hops. Taste is medium bodied, very light carbonation, semi sweet with a toasted milk chocolate pretzel flavor. Cool! Finish is smooth, creamy with a herbal biscuit aftertaste with no bitterness. One of the smoothest altbiers I’ve tried and the best tasting beer from the BluCreek brand label.

Rich, deep mahogany appearance, sour mash aroma. Crisp mouthfeel with a flavor of toasted caramel malt. This altbier is alright.....as in so so

Very dark with thin head. Notes of roasted, sweet malts, notes of licorice. Dark roast coffe and sour notes. Sour roast finish that lingers on tongue.

Surprisingly good version of the style. Deep coppery pour. The nose is roasted toffee malt and some herbal hopping. The flavor is toffee, touches of peat, herbal hopping, sweet chocolate and maybe a hint of coffee. The mouthfeel was a touch thin, but I still like this one a lot more than I expected to! Thanks Cornfield, for thinking of me.

What an interesting beer to drink! There is so much going on in it. Aroma is mostly malt and seems pretty straight forward. First taste, however, was full of surprise. It jumped out as similar to a stout with roasted coffee flavors and chocolate. This settles in quickly to a nice balance of malt and hop. Most of the stout flavors disappear. Toffee remains but it is subdued. Hops are evident but are clearly in the background. This one peaked very early but settled in as a nice pleasant beer.

Pours a dark copper with an orange glow, moderate carbonation and a small, ecru head. Peanut brittle smells good here where in other beers it has not. Additional English toffee and some mild grassy hops. Bittersweet flavor is unassuming at first, but it gains diversity over time. Chocolate, caramel & toffee all present themselves in their own little ways, while the finish is dry and leans towards the subtle bitterness of weak coffee. A bit thin in the mouth, but an overall adequate brew.

<font size=-4>Single 12 oz. thanks to <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/View-User-14352.htm&g />

Bottled. Poured an unappetizing shade of baby poo brown with flaky sediment and a quickly-receding beige head. Aroma was of mild chocolatety malts and lightly-toasted barley... an aire of detergent wafts through, followed by old coffee. Chocolate gives way to nutty malts in the flavor with restrained herbal hops... left an unsettling dry chalky feeling at the finish, unfortunately. Watery on the palate and never felt good. This was greatly dissapointing.