Widmer Brothers Double Alt (84/09)

Brewed by Widmer Brothers Brewing Company
Style: Altbier
Portland, Oregon USA

Bottle pours a cloudy redish-brown with batley a skin of a tan head. Dissipating quickly. Sweet malt aroma with sour slant as well. Brown sugar, concord grapes and apple butter. Flavor is woody and a bit sweet with a bitter edge. Aggressively hopped...yes, but not much in the way of flavor. Lingering bitterness is woody and astringent. Disappointing.

Dark brown beer with a surprisingly disapointing puny head. We carbonation. Nectar, nut, sugar, and alcohol aromas. Busy mouthfeel with no one flavor dominating. Heavy malts and heavy hops, so its heavy all around, but well balanced. A strong, but oxymoronic mild beer. The most poigniant thing about it is the alcoholic nose and aftertaste.

pretty red brown with quick off white head. dry and astringent in the mouth. I smell alcohol, corn, mild hops, ash, taste sour cherry, pine, dark caramel, and alcohol. a dry and likghtly7 chemical finish. very warming, much more malt flavor than a malt liquor, but a thinner underpinning than an american strong, due to the lager-ish yeast. some nice parts, but doesn’t all fit together.

Pours a dark reddish brown with red highlights and a small light tan head that sticks around much longer than I thought it would. Aroma suggest a sweet beer with caramel, yams, raisins, toast, and pineapple. Taste is just as interesting a mix of flavors with brown sugar, caramel, toffee roast, raisin, and something vaguely fruity or maybe metallic. Burnt citrus? Eh, I dunno. Finishes very roasty, and heavy on earthy hops, seemingly out of nowhere. Fairly viscous and mouth-coating, but a bit oily as well, and I can notice the heat without trying so I guess it’s hot. Complex in both flavor and aroma, but not every component is a good one. Er, might a year of aging do this albier some good? heh.

The alcohol on this is too powerful for the rest of the beer. Malts and hops are underneath but too much burn as you first taste and as it lingers.

Pours dark with a decent head reducing to nada. Smells sweet and sour. Mildly roasted malty sweet this beer is lop sided. Theres a mild bitter twitch. I’m done. This beer is just flat out uninteresting.

Bottle from South Bay Drugs: Aroma is an appetizing batch of rich malts and freshly brewed caramel on top of dry fruity background. Viewed as a dark brown hue accompanied by a perfect half inch thick creamy head. The flavor is smooth and robust with a usage of high quality malts and semi sweet caramel. In my opinion this is an excellent try at an altbier which is why i give this a high score.

2009 Bottle - Pours a beautiful reddish amber with a large, frothy tan head...aroma is a bit metallic at first, but eventually displays a lot of dark fruity malt and caramel...flavour is not quite good, roast, high alcohol, sugary malt, bitter burnt sugar finish...never again...