Pax Nemesis
DuClaw Brewing Company

Pax NemesisPax Nemesis
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From:
DuClaw Brewing Company
 
Maryland, United States
Style:
Altbier
ABV:
11%
Score:
79
Avg:
3.22 | pDev: 22.05%
Reviews:
12
Ratings:
16
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Mar 16, 2015
Added:
May 09, 2010
Wants:
  2
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
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Ratings by Seanibus:
Photo of Seanibus
Reviewed by Seanibus from California

2.8/5  rDev -13%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3
This is a little too much to be really enjoyable - a milder version of this beer would be quite good.

Pours syrupy copper with a slight head. The aroma is slight, but the flavor is grainy and syrupy, brown sugary, alcohol is fairly hot but still fairly smooth. There is little bitterness. Mouthfeel is slick.
May 16, 2010
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.56 by DrBier from Pennsylvania

Mar 16, 2015
 
Rated: 2.5 by yourefragile from District of Columbia

Feb 06, 2012
 
Rated: 2 by ygtbsm94 from Utah

Jan 10, 2012
 
Rated: 3 by nmann08 from Virginia

Nov 17, 2011
Photo of AgentZero
Reviewed by AgentZero from Illinois

2.38/5  rDev -26.1%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5
Everyone loves me because I bring kickass beers to the table, including this beauty. Imperial Alt! How could this NOT be fantastic?!

A - It must be the high alcohol because the white head on this one obliterated itself within seconds on the pour. Golden, clear body.

S - Very sweet smell. Very Alt. Lots of Alt. God how much damn Alt can there be in this Alt? The higher alcohol is not helping here, making this smell sweet and harsh.

T - Really sweet, lots of grain alcohol, pretty gross and hard to drink. This seems harder and more expensive to make than a regular alt, and tastes worse.

M - Smooth, lower carbonation, medium bodied.

O - Yuck. If you want to punish the person that brings this beer, make them drink the whole thing.
Jul 11, 2011
Photo of CuriousMonk
Reviewed by CuriousMonk from District of Columbia

3.5/5  rDev +8.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Had it on tap at the brewery and at an Oktoberfest beer tasting event. Pours a mostly clear dark copper color and topped by a minimal off white head of foam. The aroma shows notes of sweet caramel, doughy bread, cream, and some floral hop bitterness. The heavy alcohol is quite noticeable as well. The flavor follows and is heavy on the malts and sugar with the caramel and doughy bread malts dominating the floral hops. The body is thick and syrupy with moderate carbonation that follows with a slow burn from the alcohol on the finish. Not sure why you need to take an Alt to this level of alcohol.
Feb 23, 2011
Photo of TurdFurgison
Reviewed by TurdFurgison from Ohio

2.72/5  rDev -15.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2
Thanks go out to AgentZero for bringing this bottle (thanks Mike). I was initially excited to see this, an "Imperial Alt", but that excitement wore off as I tasted it.

It pours looking like an alt, bright copper color, clear with a light colored foam. What is odd is that the foam disappeared in less than a few seconds, completely detectable on a human scale. That's not very alt-like behavior, but then again this has 11% ABV. It smells like an uber-alt, which is to say massively sweet and malty, retaining enough alt elements to not come across as bocky in any way, just a very alt squared type of thing. I think I liked the first whiff, thinking this was an alt I could sink my teeth into (I recently tried a half dozen breweries' versions fresh in Dusseldorf and left unimpressed).

It turns out that too much alt is a bad thing. This was tough to drink, way too sweet with lots of ethanol flavor, yikes this is bad. A few sips was enough, I poured the rest (sorry Mike). Glad to have tried it, hope to never try it again.
Jan 30, 2011
Photo of jrallen34
Reviewed by jrallen34 from Illinois

2.59/5  rDev -19.6%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2
Thanks to Mike for guilting us into opening this before we finished dinner...Pours a medium clear copper, hints of brown, semi clear. The head is off-white and very light, gone almost immediately...The aroma is god-awful, vanilla and grass mixed in with vomit, really harsh...The taste is more vomit, a little toffee and lots of alcohol. Really not drinkable at all.

Skip this beer.
Jan 26, 2011
Photo of MasterSki
Reviewed by MasterSki from Canada (ON)

2.68/5  rDev -16.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2
Thanks to Mike for this gem! Served in a wine glass.

A - Quick-dissolving eggshell foam that settles to a thin ring of bubbles. Slightly hazed orange-brown body.

S - Apples, toffee, grassy hops, and fusel alcohol. It smells exactly like you'd expect an Imperial Altbier to smell, but the booze is very poorly hidden.

T - The taste is a jumble of cloying toffee sweetness and harsh solvent and grain alcohol bitterness.

M - Smooth, medium body, medium-low carbonation, finishes sticky, with only a bit of alcohol warmth (which is a surprise).

D - Nope - this was worse than the O'Fallon Imperial Alt I had a few nights ago. Not recommended unless it's really cheap and you want to get hammered. I poured out most of my glass.
Jan 26, 2011
Photo of hdofu
Reviewed by hdofu from Maryland

4.32/5  rDev +34.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Opened the growler and it just about shot the stopper off, poured copper with a peach head. Smells of hopps and malts and a bit sweet like orange. Taste is spicy and complicated having tastes like nutmeg, orange hopps and sweetness. There is also a strong hint of alcohol that sneaks up on you. At 11 ABV it's probably not the best beer to have alot of but it does go down easy.
Oct 06, 2010
Photo of sweethome
Reviewed by sweethome from Illinois

3.78/5  rDev +17.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Poured from a bomber - unfortunately, it was a colder than I would have preferred when pulled from my hotel fridge. The cold temp held down the head. I let it warm before tasting.

Hazy amber pour. Not quite as dark as I would expect for an alt...but I don't care too much about style when trying an american creation - like an imperial alt at 11%. Carmel malt nose, hint of chocolate, and fruit...

Firey alcohol upfront. Cocoa (okay Nestle Quick), that undefined fruit, more alcohol. There are alt flavors in this beer - muted and pushed aside by the alcohol, but they are there.

I guess I'd call it Alt-barleywine??

A decent strong beer - nothing off or bad here, but why?
Sep 23, 2010
Photo of TMoney2591
Reviewed by TMoney2591 from Illinois

4.03/5  rDev +25.2%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Served in a Hirter stange.

I may not be much of a linguist, but isn't Pax Nemesis something of an oxymoron? Regardless, it pours a clear deep amber topped by a couple fingers' worth of ecru foam that dies down to a nice surface layer. The nose is mostly boozy biscuits, though some light red grapes and citrus peel come through as well. The taste holds notes of sweet caramel, biscuits, red grapes, and an ever-so-delicate citrus-y bitterness. Honestly, even given a limited sample size, this is one of the best-tasting alts I've yet had. The body is a strong medium, with a light carbonation and a thick but fluid feel. Overall, a solid, interesting brew, one of the better and larger alts out there.
Jul 17, 2010
Photo of mdfb79
Reviewed by mdfb79 from New York

3.38/5  rDev +5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
From 7/9/10 notes. Had at a local DC tasting.

a - Pours a murky amber color with 1 inch of white head.

s - Smells of oak, bourbon, caramel malts, and a hint of vanilla.

t - Tastes of alcohol, caramel malts, and sweet fruit. Little bit of heat to it.

m - Medium to full body and low carbonation.

d - An ok beer but nothing special. Had some alcohol in the taste which was offputting. Wouldn't buy again.
Jul 13, 2010
Photo of John_M
Reviewed by John_M from Washington

3.97/5  rDev +23.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Brought a bottle out for the recent PDX tasting. Probably not my best choice/selection as it turned out, though the beer isn't awful.

PN pours a copper amber color with fairly good head retention, albeit minimal lacing. On the nose, the beer smells quite sweet and malty, as well as a bit boozy. It's attractive, though I was a bit concerned by the amount of sweetness. Flavors replicate the nose pretty closely, though the beer is better balanced then I expected. There's just enough hops to balance the sweetness, and the beer is surprisingly light on its feet for such a sweet, big beer. Also, the beer has something of a creamy mouthfeel, which is an attraction as well. Considering the sweetness AND abv., drinkability is surprisingly good. Not sure I'd want to drink a lot of this, but it wasn't bad.
May 12, 2010
Photo of Aichelberger
Reviewed by Aichelberger from Maryland

4.28/5  rDev +32.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
DuClaw's Imperial Alt in the big bottle. Gorgeous orange/amber color in the glass (looks like a fine whiskey), just a few bubbles and very soft (almost nonexistent) carbonation. Sweet malt in the nose with a definite alcohol scent. Initial taste is alcohol and slight toasted malt, but as the glass sits the alcohol takes a back seat to the toasted malt, with residual sweetness, a nice (subtle) hops bitterness and a definite alcohol impression. Easy to drink, very good for the style and definitely something you have to savor to really enjoy. Well worth trying. One of the few high gravity beers I've enjoyed drinking... albeit very slowly.
May 09, 2010
Pax Nemesis from DuClaw Brewing Company
Beer rating: 79 out of 100 with 16 ratings