Les Trois Mousquetaires S.S. Alt Secrète

At Vero. Clear mahogany brown with tan head. Chestnuts and hazelnuts. Big carbonation. Bready. Excellent brew.

Bottle courtesy of thecheeseman. Pours dark amber with light tan head. Aromas of caramel, bread and a good amount of hops. Flavor is lots of malts with a nice bitter hop finish. Medium body with lively carbonation.

Courtesy TheCheeseMan. Pours a clear sienna brown-amber color with a small, frothy, cream colored head. Jagged lines of lacing dry hard along the glass. The nose is an interesting one, showing notes of apple skins, walnuts, caramel malts, and perfumy, floral hops. Caramel malts lay the groundwork for the flavor, with nutmeg spice, and hints of lactose shining through as well. Candied flower petals and biting, peppery hop notes finish things off. The palate is medium-light in stature with lively carbonation. Overall, this is a decent Alt. It doesn’t overly impress in any particular facet, but it is very drinkable nonetheless.

Pours into my 25cl tulip glass with a fairly dense, tan colored, initially three-finger thick head. The beer is a murky, concentrated, dark amber color that shows a deeply hazy, bright red color when held up to the light. The aroma has lots of caramelized malt notes to it that are lightly offset by some spicy hop notes. Sweet smelling, with a berry / raisin like fruitiness, aromas of toasted malt, spicy hop notes similar to cinnamon and candied lemon zest as well as a touch of herbal notes in the finish.

This has a rich, caramelized sweetness to it that does not taste overly cloying. This up front sweetness is balanced in the finish by both an herbal hop bitterness (that is just a touch green) as well as a toasted malt character (almost a cocoa note there towards the end too). The mix of caramel malt and spicy hops contribute a flavor that is something like cinnamon, though not quite. The malt contributes a touch of nuttiness to the flavor profile as well. The hop character here is actually pretty significant; the over-abundance of caramel malt notes here make you forget about them at times, but there is a fair bitterness this brew as well as a lightly grassy, definitely herbal and a certain, candied citrus peel note that are each quite distinctly noticeable once you try and ignore the malt.

This is a very rich brew with an over-abundance of caramelized malt character; it is really just a bit too much, though it doesn’t make this undrinkable. This definitely has a touch of murky malt flavors to it that go along with the appearance; actually I am surprised how murky this is even after sitting in my fridge for a couple weeks.

Courtesy Cheeseman. Pours dark caramel brown, with a small off white head. Smells of thick malts, bready yeast, and hops. A little oak too. The flavor was more hoppy than the nose, with the malt providing some balance in the background. Tstes like your typical altbier, nothing too exciting, and nothing too bold flavor wise. Just very drinkable.