Chelsea Pro-Am Altbier

In short: A problematic buttery mess. Bad conditioning or bad beer?
How: Cask at Brazen Head NYC.
The look: Clear dark-copper body topped by a long-lasting medium tan head
In long: Body is soft and velvety. At first (when very cold) the beer presents oily nuts flavours and ripe citrus. But soon it turns into buttery peanut butter, extra-ripe citrus fruits, some residual brown sugar sweetness, misplaced cobweb, totally “off” hopping that tastes like green tea. Ok during the first few sips when the beer is very cold but a full pint proved to be annoying. The beer didn’t feel fresh. I suspect the problem was more with Brazen Head’s conditioning than the beer itself but unfortunately it’s the beer rating that suffers. Chelsea Amateur-AM Albier.

Draught at Blind Tiger. Dark amber/copper with a malty, slightly fruity aroma. Flavor mostly sweet and grainy malt but pretty well balanced by a spicy, almost peppery hop kick on the finish. Pretty good.

Cask at Barcade: Pours a headless amber with a fair amount of clarity. Fruity aroma, some berry-ish notes are apparent, along with a papery malt hint. Very thin bodied. Flavor is lightly fruity, some mild berry notes come through. Then it leads into a grainy malt character, toasted crystal hints with mild bitterness in the finish. Pretty thin and one-dimensional.

Cask at Barcade. Pale orange beer with no head. Aroma is very earthy and herbal with a softly sweet crystal malt layered over crisp pils malt base. Quite earthy and even a bit mushroomy. As it warms, the nutty sweetness opens up letting more of the rich noble hoppiness come out. If the hops with a little bit zestier, this would be an excellent take on the style. It’s still quite good however, especially for a style that we don’t see all that often.