Beer Camp Across America: Alt Route
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California, United States 🇺🇸
Collab with: Victory Brewing CompanyAltbier Series Out of Production
|
Score
6.82
|
|
Brewers are notorious for refusing to take the easy path. Instead, we lead with our hearts and pursue our passions no matter how difficult the road ahead. Alt Route is a tribute to this stubborn spirit that drove us to dodge the status quo and found breweries. Together we chased the siren song of beer with this revamped take on an antique beer style.
Like us, Victory is one of the few brewers with an allegiance to whole-cone hops. They do extensive work with hop flavor, especially focusing on clever and delicious single-hop beers highlighting the same hop grown in different regions. They too share our roots in home brewing and never lost their passion for working with new beers and styles solely for the joy of making something new.
Alt Route is our take on the old school German Altbier style featuring an ale-lager hybrid yeast, which is top fermenting and fruity like an ale, but matured at cool temperatures for a clean, lager-like flavor. This deep amber beer has a slight emphasis on the richly layered, slightly sweet malt body with enough citrusy hop flavor and aroma to produce a balanced, dry finish.
Like us, Victory is one of the few brewers with an allegiance to whole-cone hops. They do extensive work with hop flavor, especially focusing on clever and delicious single-hop beers highlighting the same hop grown in different regions. They too share our roots in home brewing and never lost their passion for working with new beers and styles solely for the joy of making something new.
Alt Route is our take on the old school German Altbier style featuring an ale-lager hybrid yeast, which is top fermenting and fruity like an ale, but matured at cool temperatures for a clean, lager-like flavor. This deep amber beer has a slight emphasis on the richly layered, slightly sweet malt body with enough citrusy hop flavor and aroma to produce a balanced, dry finish.
Sign up to add a tick or review
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle shared by Mr Barleywine, Thanks Mike! Deep copper color, bready pilsner, toffee and caramel. Lots of earthy hop flavor. Decent beer, a bit hoppy for an alt, but I guess that makes it better than a regular alt.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Aug 2014
at 19:44
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
12 oz bottle poured into a Spiegelau tulip. Bottled 6/3/14. Clear ruby color with 1.5 fingers of off-white head. Aromas of caramel, wheat spices. Tastes of caramel, sweet malt, wheat, spices, bitter hops. Medium body with a dry finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Aug 2014
at 22:20
4.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5
On tap at Bailey's Taproom, pours a hazy dark amber with a small off-white head. Aroma is pretty much non-existent. Flavour is a little more lively, with notes of toasted nuts and dry crusty bread. Pretty boring stuff but well-enough made. Decent.
Tried
from Draft
on 09 Aug 2014
at 00:13
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
12 ounce bottle poured to a dimpled mug. I don't see many altbiers in the store, so I was pleased to see this turn up in the Beer Camp pack. Nice balance of malts & sweetness, with a slightly bitter finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Aug 2014
at 16:36
7.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
This brew is a clear dark chestnut color with a medium fluffy white head that diminishes gradually. Small patches of lacing on the glass. Aroma of roasted malt, fruit and hops. Medium-bodied with flavors of bready malt, caramel and grassy hops. Slight fruit in the background. The finish is sweet with a roasted malt aftertaste. Decent Altbier overall.
Tried
from Bottle
on 04 Aug 2014
at 20:18
6.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
The beer is a dark, brown-ish copper color. It is quite clear. I can’t even see a touch of haze to the beer. The head is beige and built up fairly well on the initial pour. There’s moderate lacing. Decent retention. Nice enough looking alt. The aroma is toasty bread with a base of caramel sweetness. Mild nuttiness. Smells like somewhere between an amber and a brown ale. Mild to moderate citrus hoppiness, fades a bit over time. Very mild chocolate. Very light medicinal note. Taste starts out medium sweet with some caramel and bread. A bit washed out and simply sweet. A nice enough nutty note with moderate bitterness in the finish. Fairly toasty, again. It just doesn’t quite have that rich but clean feeling like some versions of the style. Mouthfeel is smooth, normal carbonation, a bit slick. Not bad, not great.
Tried
from Can
on 02 Aug 2014
at 23:23