Brewdog: Candy Kaiser (Scotland: Altbier: 5.2% ABV)
Visual: Mahogany touched brown. Caramel brown head of froth.
Nose: Sugared almonds. Shredded wheat. Walnut cake. Malt chocolate.
Body: Moderate bitterness. Light sour dough. Light granite. Slightly thin. Earthy and spicy hops. Soil touch. Palma violets.
Finish: Sour dough and moderate bitterness. Slightly gritty. Paprika. Soil.
Conclusion: So the reworked Alt Amber shows its face with a colourful new ensemble. It has been nearly a year so I am comparing by memory, give me some leeway here – I’d say it seems more earthy, it definitely seems to have more soil style notes in a way that calls to British hop character. Don’t think they used any Brit hops for this though. I could be wrong. It has some of the spicy notes as well that you would expect from the noble hops, which seem more likely to be used in an Altbier. There is still a nuttiness there, but with less notable presence against the earthy notes.
It still doesn’t have a huge range, and the texture can be slightly thin when cool, but flavor wise it has a bit of umph. It was always robust but this feels like it takes the rougher end of the character and adds to it. There is even a light artificial feeling sweetness to it – kind of palma violet style, which gives an odd contrast.
Still not a radically different beer. Maybe it has lost some of the side subtle notes under the heavier base earthiness. I’d say pretty much the same as I said about the first one – not the most fancy, not quite as easy drinking, but still robust.
Background: This is the beer based on the prototype Alt Amber. Now when I say based, I have no idea how much they have altered it – the abv is the same, but I have been assured some tweaking has gone on. It has been a long time since I tried the prototype so please don’t take this as a direct comparison – though I will do my best to compare after consulting my prior Alt Amber notes. As always I am not an unbaised actor one Brewdog beers. I wasn’t sure if I should do notes on this, but I skipped the official release of Brixton Porter and have since heard it was a lot better than the prototype- so I thought I would give it shot. Drunk while listening is Ihsahn: After. Not listened to that for a while.