Free State Ad Astra Ale

Brewed by Free State Brewing Company
Style: Altbier
Lawrence, Kansas USA

Growler courtesy of theisti, Pours mahogany with a thin but determined withe head. Smells of caramel, light spice, roses, some sugary hints, earthy. Tastes of spice, pepper, earthy, tea, some citrus, caramel. Finishes with a light earthiness. Enjoyable session beer.

On tap at the brewpub, 02/01/07. Clear ruby brown with a one finger creamy beige head, good retention. Aroma of toast and woody hops, also a bit of molasses. Flabor added biscuity malts, a bit of brown sugar, and some light bitterness--well-balanced. Light to medium body with light spritzy carbonation. Good session beer.

5 oz sample draft at the brewpub. This has been a staple brew here since the early days and a lot of the KC Crew seems to enjoy it, but I’m jut not feelin’ it. The pour is a clear root beer brown with a thin creamy off-white head that laces decently. The aroma is dark caramel maltiness, light fuggles and a faint metallic note. Light-bodied and slick with a crisp, bitter, fairly metallic finish. The flavor follows the nose and palate with toasty malts up front and an earthy, dry, metallic finish. While I have a tendency to pull metal notes from beers that others do not, I taste what I taste, and this is probably my least favorite Free State offering to date. I suppose I’ll try a full pour again some time, just to give it a second chance, but unless it can shake the metallic characteristics, I will remain unmoved.

Very nice dark purpley red color with a creamy light tan head. Bready, malty aroma with just a hint of citrus and floral hops. Flavor is predominantly malt with only a slight hop bitterness and some underlying citrus/fruit and a dry, bready finish.

On tap many times @ various places, pours a cloudy dark amber with a moderate off-white head and good lacing. Mild aroma of malty caramel and some hops. A mild hops bite with a malty backbone. Definitely not a favorite of the FS lineup, but decent and still much better than alternative big beer choices.

On tap at the brewpub. Poured dirty amber with a dirty white head. Aroma had some faint earth notes, and really faint floral hop notes to it. Flavor was slight citrus hops. Thin body with a dry finish. Very bleh!

On tap at Barley’s with Dansting, TimmyK, and Caddy. Pours a deep copper color with a weak initial head and lacing (altbiers should be easy to pour pretty). The aroma was caramel, light roast, which caught me off guard. Flavor was caramel, light roasted malts, which yielded some faint coffee and smoke. Only the second beer, so my buds couldn’t have been off, could they? But, this was not classic altbier-like, though. Even the alcohol was a tad bit hot for a plain old alt. Oh well, the Ohio State-Xavier ball game was quite fun to watch while hanging with these guys. Cheers to my Kansas pals.

From the tap, this one poured a clear deep brownish amber beverage with a small off-white smooth head that was mostly diminishing and left very little lacing on the glass. The aroma was well balanced between the malt characters that included roasted, nutty and caramel and the hop characters which were lightly floral and grassy. The body was medium with lively carbonation and a dry, lightly astringent texture. The flavor started out lightly sweet but quickly turned to a light bitterness that lasted through the average length finish.