Schwelmer Alt

Brewed by Brauerei Schwelm
Style: Altbier
Schwelm, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

This looks like it should be a strong bordering on overwhelming beer but it is not. This is real german beer, true to its ingredients and unwilling to let any one dominate. It is beautiful looking like expensive furniture. I find the malt the most pronounced but really it is just politely allowing the hops to bow to it. An elegant dance -- which is a very pretentious way to explain a very unpretentious beer.

bottle. A hard to find style in this area. Dark brown color with a dense medium head. Grassy hop aroma, crisp/clean. faintly sweet with a decent amount of bitterness. An underappreciated style.

Pours a clear dark copper mahogany with a thin-lacing off-white head. Sweet, lightly toasted caramel malty and cookie dough aroma. Body starts with a light caramel malty sweetness turning more dry and bitter toward the finish. An ok, fairly true to style altbier.

Pours dark amber with a light amber head. Unusual carbonation with an initial fizz explosion that quickly calms down. Taste has some dark fruit and reminds me of a watered-down port. Quick finish with a cardboardy aftertaste.

Swing-top. Very dark brown, ruby under light, with a beautiful and rocky thick tan head. Fruity nose (including banana and berry), spice, and even some doughy yeast. Doughy, merrily berrily fruity, and lightly caramelly, mildly bitter with decent hoppiness and a little toffee in the aftertaste. There’s a real nice sweetness from the fruitiness, though the beer is fundamentally dry. Creamy smoothness, but a little thin. Not what I was expecting, but excellent nonetheless. Thanks to MortizF!

This bottle tastes a little dated, and this is not a style of beer that ages well in the least. So, kind of a musty aroma, reminiscent of dark chocolate. LIght to medium bodied on the palate, with some well rounded roastiness, lots of malt, and very littel fruit flavors. Overall pretty mild, and worth passing on.

Corked bottle opens with a big pop.....good start, and an aroma of malty chocolate. Pours to a dark brown with hints of red, thick tan head that lingers awhile, and decent lacing. Unfortunately, the beer goes downhill after this. Flavor is okay, more malt and hint of chocolate, but a very thin body and watery finish makes this a less enjoyable beer at the end than at the beginning.

Bottled. Aroma of dark malts and burnt sugar. Brown color, beige head, good lace. Light sweet, dark malts in the flavor as well, herban, grain, hint of veggies in the finish, sparkling. I more and more come to the conclusion that there’s only one way to really enjoy a Altbier: fresh from tap at the brewery.