Simple Malt Altbier
A surprisingly tasty brewThere have been several simply designed Simple Malt (brewed by Brasseurs Illimités) bottles at my local shop for quite some time now. I was always intrigued by them, but it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that I finally decided to pull the trigger and purchase a nice little variety sampling from the Quebec-base brewery.
Knowing absolutely nothing about the company (their website is devoid of helpful information), I decided to start off this series of tastings with the Altbier. I wasn’t honestly expecting much from the beer. Perhaps it’s the relatively unadorned label artwork or my lack of familiarity, but I went into the beer with plenty of skepticism. I ended up, however, pleasantly surprised.
Appearance
Altbier pours a hazy copper in color with a slowly collapsing khaki head that results in decent lacing.
Aroma
Wafts of rich, sweet caramel, a light fruitiness and distant, piny hops fill the nose.
Taste
The nose on this beer presented itself as a fairly standard altbier, but the surprise lies within the slightly tart cherry presence that comes out amongst the caramel malt and earthy hops. It’s certainly not a lambic level of tartness, but there’s a definite cherry presence to this beer that was a unique surprise. Shifting from the fruitiness and caramel malt, the beer finishes with a moderate level of hop bitterness.
Overall
This brew was certainly one of the more unique altbiers that I’ve had. The sour cherry presence was a pleasant curiosity — completely unexpected and oddly appropriate for the brew. While I enjoyed my first dive into the Simple Malt brand, this particular beer probably isn’t for everybody and I’m not sure I would buy it again. That said, it was a nice one to sample, at least once.
Rating: 3.5/5