Frankenheim Alt

It seems that the most widely available Altbier in Wuppertal is Frankenheim Alt (4.8% abv) and as far as Alt's go it is very good. Not as good as Uerige Alt which is my favourite, but certainly a good representative of the style. Still in the Kornmuller restaurant, I ordered this is an attempt to deliberately offend my Cologne dwelling colleague! Sadly my German friend actually had a sense of humour and my desired effect was not realised.

Frankenheim is not brewed in the Altstadt like most Alt biers, but is brewed in nearby Neuss by an old-established independent family brewery. It's a pale bronze colour with a good bubbly head, and richly earthy aroma with a touch of hop sharpness. The palate is very clean, light and biscuity with some sweetness and a splash of citric fruit, and a Weetbix-dry hoppiness develops in the finish, where nicely tangy, peppery and slightly nutty notes linger. Slightly lackluster compared to interpretations of the style by other breweries in Düsseldorf.

http://www.frankenheim.de/

You may have noticed that I have used the term weetbix rather than weetabix. that is because I am Australian and weetbix is the brand for this popular cereal down under. Weetabix are just try hard UK knock offs, just as Marmite is a poor mans Vegemite.

Schumacher Alt

Schumacher Alt (4.6% abv) is from Dusseldorf's oldest altbier brauhaus and has been operating since 1838, so in otherwords a bloddy long time! This is the one beer that most people associate altbier with and also a beer that I didnt have the pleasure of sampling during my last trip to Dusseldorf. The basics of the beer is thats its malty, brown with a slight fruitiness. More so than other alts, but Schumacher is generally is the style defining beer for Alt, much the same as Urquell is the style defining Pilsner. It was also the last Alt I sampled during the German beer festival at Zeitgeist and was also the last beer I sampled. I am really grateful to Stonch and Bier-Mania for hosting such and event as basically these beers are very difficult to track down outside of the regions where they are brewed. Hopefully they will host a similar even in the future?? BTW, you can find more info on Schumacher at their website: http://www.schumacher-alt.de

Bolton Ur-Alt

Next up was Bolton Ur-Alt. I am not exactly sure what the difference between Alt and Ur-Alt is, but the beer was definetly stronger flavoured than previous Altbiers I have had, and was more in line with bier I have had in the Uerige brauhaus in Dusseldorf's Altstadt. The beer is darker, thicker, heavier and more malty than yoru everyday Alt, it also has a prominant hop aroma (my guess is that its Spalt hops? any other opinions?) I have not been able to source to much information omn teh beer except that the Bolton brewery is located in Korschenbroich, North Rhine-Westphalia which is close to Cologne. This is definetly one of my all time fav beers, but it still doesnt compete with Uerige!

Füchschen Alt

Recently fellow beer blogger Stonch organised a German microbrewery festival in conjunction with Bier-Mania at Zietgeist a new London German venue which is housed by the Jolly Gardners pub in Lambeth. The first beer up on the evening was Füchschen Alt (abv 4.1%) a beer that I have enjoyed previously on a trip to Dusseldorf at the Rot Fuchs. As I was sipping away at the bier I was taken back to that evening and the new friends that I made, especially a guy who is now infamously known by my mates as 'Big Head Man'.
The beer itself is a pale brown with a malty caramel finish, and can easily be accommodated as a session beer. One of my favourites!
Below is a photo from my trip to the Rot Fuchs (Red Fox). Big Head Man is third from the left!