365 different beers from 365 different breweries in 365 days with random musings on beer, food, music, sports, dogs and anything else interesting along the way
I scored another hard to find beer on the Denver trip. It's the Alaskan Amber -- an altbier from the Alaskan Brewing Company. Alt means old in German and this is a German style brown ale that is conditioned for longer than usual. The longer time conditioning leads to a mellower and less fruity beer.
The Alaskan Amber poured a deep amber color with a thin ring of white head. It smelled of bready malts and lightly of hops. The taste is smooth and this beer is very easy to drink. There is a lot of caramel in the taste and just enough hop to keep it from being boring.
Like I said this beer is a good get. Alaskan Brewing doesn't ship east of Colorado. Being brewed in Juneau, Alaska doesn't help with distribution either. Turns out there aren't any roads that connect it to the Lower 48 or even the rest of Alaska. And that's your information drop for the day.
Today was spent mentally preparing myself for disappointment. I find it's easier to deal with stomach punches when you're expecting them from a mile away. Meh.
The beer for today is the Doppelsticke, from the rather unpronounceable Uerige Obergärige Hausbrauerei in Germany. It's a dark chocolate color in the glass with a thin off white head, and your nose picks up the scent of dark fruits and molasses. Flavors such as chocolate, bread, and caramel are present along with a strong malt profile. There's a hop bitterness mixed in to balance out some of the sweeter flavors. Very well done beer, if I must say so myself.
Doesn't that look good?
Big things are afoot in Düsseldorf, as this brewery is celebrating their 150th anniversary in 2012. Congrats! Also, this brewery produces spirits, including Stickum, which appears to be a vodka. I'm guessing they won't be exporting that one to America, unless Lester Hayes orders up a few crates.
Thing to Think About Today:
Second day in a row I don't have something with a connection to the beer/brewery/town at the top of my mind to close out my post. Too much work, not enough day dreaming, if you ask my opinion.
Okay, just because it's a lot of fun, let's have the Old Crow Medicine Show close out the day with Wagon Wheel. I've always associated this song with road trips and the south - maybe thinking about road trips will spark some imagination for tomorrow. And to all, a good night.
I'm not going to lie. I've been afraid of this beer.
Look at that fancy bottle, complicated cap, ominous label...the crazy font that took seven attempts at spelling before I finally figured it out.
This beer comes to us from Dusseldorf, Germany. Uerige has been brewing this special extra strong beer for the U.S. market since 2005. Per the website, The DoppelSticke has an astonishing 8.5% ABV. Perhaps these Germans need to visit some American breweries. Unless I'm missing something in the translation, I wouldn't call 8.5% astonishing.
It poured a dense deep chocolate brown color with a minimal tan head. The scent is caramel and herbal. I want to use organic and green to describe it, but those aren't good scent adjectives. It drinks quite rich and thick. It's sweet but sharp and hopped. There's more caramel and the flavor of 85% cocoa chocolate. (If you love really dark chocolate, you'll understand that.).
