Arkenstone Alt
Martha's Exchange

Well...pretty amber in color, abit cloudy actually. There was some malty/bready notes in the aroma. Tastewise, that continued in the beer, which lead me to ask: where were the hops? Any hops? This one was big on the malt, low on the hops, and left me scratching my head.

 

On tap at the source today.
Deep copper amber color with a decent sized off white head. Rich caramel and toffee notes with a hint of earth to help balance. Light fruit. Smooth approachable, flavorful ale, my favorite of the day.

A Nice ruby red with a slid white head.

S - Nice rich malt, with a defintite floral hop boquet.

T - Initial hops bite, followed by a smooth caramel maltiness which is finished off by a solid dose of hops. Not IPA type hops, but enough to know it's there. Nice balance through the sip.

M - Lighter in body than I expected. In fairness, my alt experience lies primarily with doublebag which is a double alt creation.

D - Very easy to drink. Nice and refreshing on a hot day!

(0008) Reviewed: 02/11/06.

On-tap, sampled during a pub-crawl that started in MA and went all over the map. Pour temp: unknown, but on the cold side for an ale. Wanted to let it warm up, but I dived right in (staring at that Impy Stout at Nashoba was too much torture; I couldn’t let that happen again…).

Appearance: Thick head (>0.5-inch) that diminished into a ring. Moderate to good lacing. Color: a cloudy, orange-brown.

Smell: Slight piney hops, but mostly malt-sweet, and not overpowering, either. There was not much of a change as the beer warmed to room temp.

Taste: Good balance of hop bitterness and malt. Aftertaste is bitter, with traces of hop fruitiness.

Mouthfeel: On the thin side for this style, but enough latent/residual malt structure to see it through to the end.

Drinkability: Very good drinkability. This is a quaffing beer; good for hot days.

Overall: This seems to be a reasonable representation of the style, with “legs”, albeit on the thin side. I would definitely have it again on my next visit.

This beer pours a macintosh apple red, and leaves a white lace for a head that disappears quickly. The aroma seems off a bit, it has a fruit (grape), sour smell, followed by a bit of smokiness. It starts on the palate with a tart bite, followed by hop bitter flavor and finished with some smokey, tabacco essence, then all of a sudden caramel malt presence can be detected. Not bad for the style, a little weak on the body, I was expecting a little bit more.

Sampled on-tap at the brewpub.

This altbier poured a cloudy, red-copper color with creamy, tan foam that settled to a thin coat and clung to the glass a little bit. The smell was malt with a touch of caramel. The taste was lightly sweet and almost fruity upfront but this gave way to a dry malty and hoppy flavor. The mouthfeel was dry overall with medium body and modest carbonation. The aftertaste was a lingering dryness with malty and hoppy flavors persisting. This was a nicely drinkable beer.

One of the few Alts attempted around here. Copper color, with a real good, frothy head, and nice lace too! Nose had a good malt, doughy character, with some hops making a cameo, too. Body a touch thin, but still good on the tongue! Starts with a good, bready malt presence, fading into a pleasant hop twang to balance things out. A fairly decent representation of the style, though not entirely close.

overall: 3.95
appearance: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | mouthfeel: 3.5 | drinkability: 4

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