Scarcity
Altamont Beer Works

 

Can pour-4 months old. Looks, smells and tastes pretty dang good. Clear medium gold straw color with short foamy white head leaving a bit of frosty lacing. Nose is sufficiently hoppy, earthy and dank. Taste follows with a bit of alcohol astringency on the finish. Would love to compare this to PtY and big chicken when fresh. Abv well hidden.

 

 

 

 

From the first crack of the can the aroma begins to fill the room. Pours a clear golden tan with generous, healthy foam. I get some sweet citrus, a hint of berries, and just a light pinch of alcohol fusel on the back end. An easy sipper, despite its 11% strength, and surprisingly smooth and mellow especially for its IIIPA stature.

 

 

First glance is a nice dark amber with great head and medium lacing. Smell was a lot of tropical and grapefruit notes. I was getting some malt and pine as well. Taste was a citrus bomb, great balance of hops and malt and just cleans up so nice. Medium body and the alcohol is almost nonexistent. Overall a very tasty brew. Not a Pliny the Younger killer but it’s pretty close.

 

Had on tap at Gander Tap House Loomis CA, 4.06.19

Boozy but balanced triple IPA

Had this at the Bistro's 16th double/5th triple ipa festival held on February 6, 2016. Pours a darker color than expected, one of the maltiest appearance hoppy beers I've ever seen from Altamont, unless we're talking that hoppy brown Dirty D beer. Comes in almost light auburn/burnt orange/amber color wise.

Aroma hits back hard with a blend of new and old school, Citra for the fruitiness, Centennial for the forest and green notes. I don't know why there isn't more use of some of the older school bittering hops as aroma hops with a heavy hitter proprietary aroma ones like Citra, Nelson and Mosaic. They seem to work for the most part.

Centennial drives the bittering units. Still imparts flavors from both sides of the hop flavor spectrum. The malt body seems to have the goal of trying to push the beer in a more "balanced" direction, but that isn't desired or happening in a triple ipa like this. Does a great job at making 11% pretty drinkable and not a chore. Will definitely pick up a can if given the chance.

Canned 1/23/19, consumed 2/15/19

My first triple IPA from Altamont and I'm impressed. Nice juicy blend of tropical & citrus fruits. Really good full feel, great carbonation, decent but relatively low bitterness for a triple, and a clean finish cutting off the sweetness. Altamont knows WCIPAs.

Look: Dark amber color; the body is initially hazy due to frost chill but clears up upon warming. Good head formation and medium lacing, which is pretty good for the style.

Smell: Tons of grapefruit and orange notes, as well as hints of pine. No booze is apparent on the nose, which is nice.

Taste: The beer is quite hoppy. Right away, there's a noticeable amount of grapefruit and pine, but a strong malt backbone balances it. Overall, this beer tastes great, although doesn't touch PtY, which is released around the same time.

Feel: Full-bodied, medium carbonation. Alcohol is well hidden considering the ABV.

Overall: This one is a great triple that does pretty much exactly what it's supposed to. Scarcity is not nearly as good as Pliny the Younger, in my opinion, but it is a fantastic big IPA nonetheless.

 

Beautiful darker Amber color with great lacing.

Whiffs of sweet malts, boozy tropical fruits and pine.

The taste is dank, hoppy goodness and sweet malt. Big orange-y flavor with a blast of hops on the initial sip followed by a big sweeter malt backbone. Long slightly bitter aftertaste. Buds salivate for days.

Overall this is a hop/malt monster that is everything SF Beer Week is and should be. The Altamont crew is doing some great things and this is another winner......and scarce as the name implies.

10oz snifter on-tap.

A: Deep pumpkin amber color with a thin greasy collar. Streaks of wispy, sticky, lace were left down the glass.
S: Herbal nose that smells like a green, earthy, slightly dank and spicy herb garden. Definitely boozy smelling, with sweeter notes of tropical fruit poking through.
T: Huge tropical, fruity, and citrus hop oils dominate the flavor. Very thick, greasy, and potent with a touch of warming and heavy alcohol presence. Bitterness is dank, citric, and herbal. Not overly sweet, tons of booze. Slightly spicy finish.
M: Given the double digit alcohol, this isn't as heavy as it could be, but it still has a heavy greasy mouthfeel with warming booze. Bitterness is rough around the edges.
O: A treat to drink but not necessarily something I wish I'd have more often. I thought this had a relatively lighter mouthfeel than some other triples on the market, but overall was not as drinkable as others.

 

A: Deep orange almost amber- thin light brown to white head

S: sweet malt, sublte citrus. bread. resin, pine at the end

T: super sweet. alcohol is well hidden. grassy notes. orange peel. resin.

F: pretty light body and very sweet aftertaste

O: this is OK at best. malt bomb for sure no real balance of flavor.