Southampton Altbier

Brewed by Southampton Publick House
Style: Altbier
Southampton, New York USA

(Bottle) Pours a clear deep amber body with a small beige head. Aroma of toasted malt, nuts, breadiness, and a hint of cocoa. Flavor of toasted bread, nuts, hops, bit floral, and herbal.

Bottle (12oz). Deep bubbly clear ruby-red with a small off-white head. Light caramel roast malt aroma, fairly sweet, some yeast, fruit and slightly burnt notes - nice, simple. Taste is a little harsh, a bit of metal, the malt seems diminished beyond recognition, just lingering peppery yeast and faint burnt fruit. Decent body, nice and lively, longish burnt linger - pretty nice, a little thin.

Clear brown/dark amber. Small, off white, rolling cottage cheese head. Nose of toasty, grainy graham cracker, whole wheat bread, and crisp hops. Same flavors. Medium, balanced body. Decent alt, very easy to drink.

Clear reddish brown color. Reminds me of a brown ale with a little more crispness. Plum and cherry aromas. Slightly sweet, slightly roasted malt flavors. Light bodied, medium finish.

The Secret Ale pours a nice amber color with an average sized head. The aroma is a nutty smell backed up with some caramel malt. The flavor is much the same. The taste did get better as it warmed up a little, and the brew was in very good balance. Nothing makes this beer stand out from the crowd, but I guess that means that there isn’t really anything terribly wrong with it either. This would be a fantastic summer session beer."

This alt pours a deep amber color from a 12oz bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is caramel, some bread and sweet. A medium to light bodied alt. Malts are caramel and slightly sweet. Hops are a touch floral and a little bitter. Smooth taste. Perhaps a little watery and thin. Kind of bland. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and crisp and a little metallic. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Re-rate, 8/07 from bottle: The best bottled altbier available in the US for sure (including imported Uerige products). Main distinction this time was no "citrus," not sure where that came from in the original rating. Malts are nutty, caramel, some toffee and molasses notes too, quite light and not always present in this style, mixed in there nicely. Additionally, the faint roast notes also come through, yet ever so gently so as not to deviate from style. Fairly well balanced, better when in the 45F range, the malts slighly imbalance the hops at 50-55F and higher. Glad this is now available at State Line! Original rating: By far THE best altbier that I’ve had from the states (better than Alaskan Amber, Stickenjab, and Victory 10yr) and a darned good overall showing among my tasted 23 or so altbiers period. Poured a clear copper color with a beautiful frothy head that laced very nicely in my Diebels stange. My first sip was underwhelming with the lager crispness (too much citrus) not getting me from the get go. Howevever, after that and with warming temps (this was about 45F when first served, 5 degrees too cold) the flavor was excellent and more crisp: perfect hop / malt balance with light caramel but mostly nutty malts (very light citrus), finishing with a great noble hop balance. The mouthfeel was acidic but crisp. A near perfect stateside example of the style.

12 oz. bottle - many thanks to slob for this special ale! Pours bronze-copper color with a moderate off-white head that diminishes to a thin skin. Aroma is toasty malts with garden herbs and notes of orange marmalade, and a bit of earth. Flavor is again toasty malts, slight hints of caramel and citrus, herb and floral notes, with a tingly spiciness in the finish. Light body and gentle carbonation. Enjoyable.