Schlüssel Alt

Brewed by Hausbrauerei Zum Schlüssel
Style: Altbier
Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Draught at Zum Schlussel, Altstadt, Dusseldorf. Fantastic, clear looking beer with lovely creamy, white, long lasting head. Hoppy, malty aroma. Nicely balanced taste. Smooth and very drinkable. I think I just prefer Uerige Alt to this, but it’s close.

(Draught) This beer was my favorite in Germany. Looks like badly made coffee, nice floral and fruit aroma hops peeking out. Thin mouthfeel but really nice flavor with a caramel spiciness. Lightly carbonated really clean finish begging for more

(draught) Pale yellow-brown, greenish shine; unbelievably uniformly straight head, like whipped eggwhite poured over a spoon. Hoppy nose as British cask ale, noble German hops. Flat, but quite hoppy taste; flowery, but tasting rather British keg-ale like. Although there is no visible carbonation, the taste indicates oversaturated beer. Light to medium bodied, ends a bit dead. As expected, the most industrial of the 4 Hausbrauerei Altbiere. Why? I’m sure they could do better.

Nice copper color, in keeping with the advice outside to "Trink was klar ist." Some hops in the aroma, which is dominated by malt character. Flavor is massive -- both in terms of the melanoidins from malt, as well as a clean hops bitterness with a bit of hops flavor. Be sure to have a few. Makes me wonder why people would waste their time on factory-made Altbiers.

Pot stopper bottle. Thick creamy head that you can almost cut with a knife. Copper color. Sweet apple and hops in the aroma. Firm hopbitter flavor with apple and some caramel. Quality altbier, must be even better at the brewery tap, but even now a great beer.

Draught at Zum Schlüssel. Light malty aroma, nutty bread, with small floral hoppiness, a bit fruity. Some notes of cherry. Small creamy off-white lacing head over clear medium copper-brown liquid. Medium watery body and medium carbonation. Medium sweetness to start, also some acidity and bitterness. Finish is medium sweet and bitter, with a short sweet-salty and nutty after. This altbier is sweeter and smoother than Uerige Altbier, but not as clean and crisp.

From tap.Dark amber colour. Very nice, foamy, lacey head. Flowery aroma. Slight fruitiness. A flowery hoppiness. Spicy maltiness. Medium body. Bitter finish. The best Alt of Düsseldorf, for sure. Re-Rate: Bottled. Impressions are the same as above plus a certain degree of honey in the aroma and taste. It´s excellent, even from the bottle. Therefore a little up-rate.

I was on a car trip, from Berlin to Brussels. I made a dinner stop in Düsseldorf to sample some alt at the source. This beer was the perfect beer, in the perfect place, at the perfect time. Of course take this with a grain of salt because perfection rarely happens with any beer, this just happened to be the right mix of factors, which will never be duplicated again. Before this I had tasted a few renditions of Altbier in the states and thought it was a fairly tasty brew but nothing incredible about it, i.e. I did not go out of my way to purchase American made Altbier. That first smell and taste was absolutely stunning. It was definitely up there with one of the best beers that I have ever had. I was definitely not expecting this taste experience. It was malty sweet and there was a definite fruitiness brought on by a combination of the hops and malt. The hop aroma and flavor was what really blew me away. You could tell that this was a fresh beer. The color was a good solid brilliantly clear red.