North Coast Brewing Company Alt Nouveau

Alt Nouveau

 

North Coast Brewing Company in Fort Bragg, California, United States 🇺🇸

  Altbier Rotating
Score
6.79
ABV: 5.4% IBU: 38 Ticks: 22
The “alt” in Altbier has dual meaning, referring both to the top-fermenting yeast used to make the beer (Latin— altus— high) and to the fact that this ale is literally the old style of beer in a country now famous for its lager beers (German—alt—old; from an earlier time). Made famous in the city of Dusseldorf, Altbier has a varied profile, depending on the brewer, from malty to hoppy.
Alt Nouveau is a decidedly hoppy take on the style, reviving a brand the brewery first released in the mid-nineties. The Art Nouveau style illustration on the label is inspired by the artichoke plantings at North Coast’s partner, Fortunate Farm, in Caspar.
 

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7.6
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, bottled on 4/4/2017. Pours slightly hazy/cloudy orange/amber/light copper color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy off white head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Light spotty soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of grapefruit, melon, pear, apple, caramel, brown bread, toasted biscuit, pepper, pine, light nuttiness/coffee, herbal, floral, grass, and toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready/light roasted malt and light-moderate fruity/earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of grapefruit, melon, pear, apple, caramel, brown bread, toasted biscuit, pepper, pine, light nuttiness/coffee, herbal, floral, grass, and toasted earthiness. Light-moderate pine/grassy/spicy bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of grapefruit, melon, pear, apple, caramel, brown bread, toasted biscuit, pepper, pine, light nuttiness/coffee, herbal, floral, grass, and toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malt and light-moderate fruity/earthy hop flavors; with a nice malt/bitterness balance, and zero hop astringency after the finish. Light-moderate dryness from bitterness and carbonation, increasing through the glass. Very clean flavors, and not yeasty. Medium-high carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, moderately crisp, and bready/grainy/sticky balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 5.4%. Overall this is a very nice Northern German altbier style. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malt and light-moderate fruity/earthy hop flavors; very smooth, crisp, clean, and refreshing to drink; with the modestly bitter/drying finish. Definitely fits the style very well; but the amount of hop flavor makes this unique, and more Americanized. A very enjoyable offering.

Tried from Bottle on 19 May 2017 at 19:38


4.6
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4.5

Sampled on draft at 3R6P this beer poured a caramel color with a medium sized creamy off white head that left decent lacing. The aroma was toasty malts, floral hops and almost celery. The flavor was bitter and dryish with notes of celery and perfume. Long finish. Medium body. Not good.

Tried from Draft on 12 May 2017 at 23:44