This week's Sunday Night Suds looks at Shiner Old Time Alt. [I apologize for the lack of picture, but as discussed below, the one bottle we had was tossed out before I thought of taking a picture of it].
This past Friday Night, one of our friends brought over the Shiner Reunion Family Pack after shabbat dinner and we sat and sampled two of the varieties along with some divrei Torah on the parsha. I was familiar with all the varieties except the Old Time Alt so that was one variety that we tried. The other beer that the three of us split was the black lager which is one of my favorites. (To see my review of the Shiner Bohemian Black Lager, click here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/08/sunday-night-suds-shiner-bohemian-black.html).
I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Yosef S. had found Shiner in Hackensack, New Jersey as it meant that the great beer of Texas was gradually moving closer to New York. I had heard rumors that Shiner was being offered for sale in NJ and had emailed the company, looking for who might be carrying its brews.
Before getting into my thoughts on the Old Time Alt, I think that it would be prudent to define the style Altbeer as it is not a very common brew. For this I turn to the experts at BA, who explain that:
This past Friday Night, one of our friends brought over the Shiner Reunion Family Pack after shabbat dinner and we sat and sampled two of the varieties along with some divrei Torah on the parsha. I was familiar with all the varieties except the Old Time Alt so that was one variety that we tried. The other beer that the three of us split was the black lager which is one of my favorites. (To see my review of the Shiner Bohemian Black Lager, click here - http://kosherbeers.blogspot.com/2009/08/sunday-night-suds-shiner-bohemian-black.html).
I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Yosef S. had found Shiner in Hackensack, New Jersey as it meant that the great beer of Texas was gradually moving closer to New York. I had heard rumors that Shiner was being offered for sale in NJ and had emailed the company, looking for who might be carrying its brews.
Before getting into my thoughts on the Old Time Alt, I think that it would be prudent to define the style Altbeer as it is not a very common brew. For this I turn to the experts at BA, who explain that:
A Düsseldorf specialty, an Altbier is a German style brown ale, the alt literally translates to "old" in German, and traditionally Altbiers are conditioned for a longer than normal periods of time. Other sources note that "alt" is derived from the Latin word "altus," which means "high" and refers to the rising yeast. Take your pick, but the extended conditioning mellows out the ale's fruitiness and produces an exceptionally smooth and delicate brew. The color ranges from amber to dark brown, medium in carbonation with a great balance between malt and hops.
As Mrs KB and our friend noticed, I was having a very difficult time with the Shiner Old Time Alt. This was not due to a defect in the beer, it was my inexperience with the brew style and my palate's attempt to link the beer with my expectation or other brew style that I was familiar with. The beer had some maltiness and a spice that I just could not put my finger on. The beer was not very heavy (it rates at 4.20% abv which is on the low end of the spectrum of Altbeer). I would have liked to have tried two or more to see if I could get used to the flavor, but alas we only had one bottle which we split three ways before throwing the empty bottle away (again apologies for the lack of a picture).
Shiner Old Time Alt is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit, although the brew does not bear the Va'ad symbol on its label. If you would like me to e-mail you the Va'ad LOC for Shiner Old Time Alt, send me an e-mail and I will gladly oblige.
To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Shiner Old Time Alt, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/143/64657.
As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).
If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
Shiner Old Time Alt is under the Kosher Supervision of the Va'ad of Detroit, although the brew does not bear the Va'ad symbol on its label. If you would like me to e-mail you the Va'ad LOC for Shiner Old Time Alt, send me an e-mail and I will gladly oblige.
To see what the experts on Beer Advocate think about Shiner Old Time Alt, please follow this link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/143/64657.
As always, please remember to drink responsibly and to never waste good beer unless there is no designated driver.If you've tried this beer or any others which have been reviewed on the kosher beers site, please feel free to post your comments (anonymous comments are acceptable).
If you have seen this post being carried on another site, please feel free to click www.kosherbeers.blogspot.com to find other articles on the kosherbeers blogsite. Hey its free and you can push my counter numbers up!
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