#31 - Altbier recipe and tasting

I brewed a fairly traditional Dusseldorf Altbier in September in hopes to both use my leftover Spalter Select hops and make a nicely balanced beer for the Fall (a trend I followed in developing my next beer, a Better Bitter).  The hope for this beer was to have a solid, complex, crusty, malt beer that has enough bitterness, flavor and aroma from the hops to compliment and enhance, all in a sessionable German style.  All of that said, I have not had any true German Altbiers so it will be hard to know if any perceived flaws are due to the recipe, due to the brewing process or are actually true to style.

Tasting:
Appearance- lighter in color than I had expected, a coppery orange with decent clarity and a small sticky head.  Probably should be a touch darker and quite a bit clearer to be "to style".

Smell- grainy: baked biscuits, cookies, graham crackers with a pungent, vegetal, earthy hop character in the mix.

Taste- again the grains lead the way with biscuity and lightly roasted flavors quickly giving way to a vegetal, moderate, long lasting hoppy bitterness.

Mouthfeel- medium bodied with low carbonation. This one might carbonate more with a little more time but its enjoyable where it is.

Overall- very drinkable. The lingering bitterness isn't abrasive but begs for another sip. The hop flavor/aroma isn't terrific and using a better hop variety and less taste/aroma hops would probably make the malt and bitterness shine more.  This was my first attempt at using the German Ale/Kolsch yeast and I have to say I think it worked terrifically despite being pushed to slightly higher temps than recommended.  While I would love to be able to have cold crashed/lagered this beer for an extended time to get it a little cleaner and closer to style it works well where it is and I'm finding myself craving this even with commercial beers in the fridge.

Raspberry Blonde Tasting

A- pinkish brown with a small quickly fading head. Initial pour is slightly cloudy but due to over carbonation it becomes very cloudy with more beer.

S- earthy, fruity, acidic. The raspberry definitely shows through. A bit muddled.

T- lightly acidic and very fruity. Raspberry is noticeable with the acidity and earthiness lingering long after the finish.

M- highly carbonated with a light body. Over carbonation is probably due to a small amount of raspberry material making it to the bottle.

O- an alright beer. Very fruity and the raspberry comes through very strong. A bit muddled but similar to other raspberry beers I've had.  I will probably rack to tertiary off of the fruit next time to help the carbonation as well.