Carolina Brewery Alter Ego Altbier

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

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

Dark copper/brown pour, with aroma and tastes of caramel malt, almonds, some toffee. Tastes as it smells, with a medium to light palate. Not terribly complex or balanced.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.