Les Trois Mousquetaires S.S. Sticke Alt

Brewed by Les Trois Mousquetaires
Style: Altbier
Brossard, Canada

Bright mahogany. Lots of caramel, toast and hop in the nose. Hoppy, with lots of caramel. Dry and leafy, with light toast.

Bottle. Poured a medium to deeper copper color with a smaller sized head. Aromas and tastes of caramel, toffee, ligthly fruity and nutty. Malty.

Clear dark amber pour. Immediately toasty, nutty malts appearing in the tight nose where a hefty dose of hops are felt, but not necessarily the most aromatic types. In mouth though, they thunder (for an alt) with grassy, leafy, sandy nuances. Beautiful hops with enough bitterness to feel coherent with the relatively thick malts that manage to avoid the trap of sweetness. So superb malts, remarkably dry, yet flavourful. Tight and coherent bittering hops. Clean profile all through with perhaps more sandy bitterness than I would have expected, but globally: Oulala! I would have expected better scores. This is a winter in Düsseldorf and at the moment, I don’t think any other brewer in Quebec could pull so authentic and good an interpretation on a strong alt.

Bottle... Post RBSG ’08 O-Town/Vero Beach Throwdown Chapter 8... Clear copper lager with a small, fizzy, off-white head. The nose is a blend of nuts, toffee, caramel and beef stock. Medium-bodied and watery with expired carbonation. Thin, bitter flavor. Finishes bitter and dry. Thanks to TheCheeseMan for sharing the bottle!

My Bottom Line:
This lovely Sticke Altbier’s balance of well-extracted bready caramel malts and ripe herbal, wooden hoppiness leads to a levelled noble hop bitterness with citrusy tips. Yet another clean, crisp, huggable session seasonal from Les Trois Mousquetaires.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A marvelous, everlasting head sits atop the darkest copper.
-The big-bubbled effervescence is perhaps a little too expansive.
-This doesn’t drink like a big beer at all; it’s very drinkable.
-A tad more malt presence in the flavor profile would make it phenomenal, imho.
-Some fruitiness leaks from the caramel maltiness.
-This is severely underrated!

Bottles and tap; 2007 and 2008 vintages.

750ml bottle courtesy of glouglouburp. Pours brown with a red hue and a nice tan head. Smells of spice, wildflowers, soap, straw, some earthy hints. Tastes of molasses, a hint of chocolate, lots of spice, some fruity notes. Mouthfeel is full bodied. Complex and very enjoyable stickbier!

A beautiful red amber ale with a thick moka coffee head. A good aroma of roasted malts, and bruned caramel. In mouth, a very robust hearty beer, with crisp malt, residual sugars, treacle candy. Rich bodied. Un autre bonne biere de l’ami Jonathan. On tap at Festival Bières et Saveurs, Chambly, August 30, 2007.

Very dark brown with a thin head. Tastes yeasty and like an old ale, grapefruit hops. Aroma neutral to a bit funky. A lot of good ideas that did not team.