Brewdog: Prototype: Alt Amber (Scotland: Altbier: 5.2% ABV)
Visual: Dark reddened brown. Small browned head. No evident carbonation.
Nose: Roasted. Malt drinks. Raisins. Chocolate cake sponge. Chalk touch.
Body: Roasted. Tiny liquorice touch. Chalk touch. Malt drinks. Raisins. Nutty. Light fruitcake.
Finish: Roasted. Nutty – peanuts. Light malty choc orange.
Conclusion: What a robust wee ale. Heavily roasted, a bit nutty – It is big in those more rough feeling elements, with even a chalky touch or two to it. Yet what impresses me is that despite that it is remarkably easy to drink.
Nice.
It has a pretty simple setup to the body, the roasted notes are the main elements, backed by a malt chocolate drinks set. There are light notes of dark fruits, or perhaps fruit cake, but nothing massive, just a few rounding notes.
Despite the simplicity it feels full just by having each element very clear and well defined. It never feels light or thin, and the roasted and nut character lingers on, and not unpleasantly, long after you have taken your mouthful and swallowed.
It is not one that has a massive amount of room for examination, but I will say I think it would fit nicely into Brewdogs core line-up. Something that feels like a lager style (While technically being an ale), but darker and fuller, and a good one for people who wish to do bit of experimentation. They do already have Zeitgeist, but I don’t think that is core line up at the moment (It has been very good the past year or so), so I think this would do nicely.
Not the most fancy beer, but robust and easy drinking.
Background: Second of this year’s prototypes, and a new style for Brewdog – The altbier. Altbier always confused me, it tastes and looks like a dark lager, but uses warm fermented yeast, so is technically an ale. Drunk while going old school with some Faithless: Reverence. As always I am not an unbiased actor on Brewdog beer. Oh, By the way – when I finished the review I listened to some of Scrooobius Pip’s Distraction Pieces Podcast as I drank the rest -it is a great interview podcast with people including Alan Moore and Warren Ellis. Well worth checking out.
