Schlussel Alt

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

Clear darker ruby, big light brown lacing foam head. Light caramel aroma, some nut and toast notes. These Alt’s have a peculiar aroma. Spicy taste, light caramel, some bread. (Velp 201501)

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Bottled (thanks Bov!). Deep amber colour, mediumsized off-white head. Aroma is nuts, some grass, caramel malts and also quite wooden notes. Flavour is bigtime nuts, some earth, mild licorice, herbs and also some yeasty notes as well. Pleasantly balanced and very drinkable. Smooth carbonation.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

500 ml fliptop bottle bought at the brewery. Poured in the original Schlüssel Alt glass a clear mahogany or dark amber chesnut colored Alt wiht a small one finger slight beige creamy foamy head that had a good retention. Mid-sized carbonation. Superb lacing. The aroma is slight roasted malts, fruity, nuts and vinous notes. The flavor is roasted malts, dried fruits, nuts, slightly spicy, peppery and licorice, mild floral hops. The mouthfeel is creamy, crispy and very smooth. Well balanced. This medium bodied Alt has a long slight caramelized finish. A very pleasant and refreshing Alt. It seems to me to be a great beer. I like it.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

I was on a car trip, from Berlin to Brussels. I made a dinner stop in Düsseldorf to sample some alt at the source. This beer was the perfect beer, in the perfect place, at the perfect time. Of course take this with a grain of salt because perfection rarely happens with any beer, this just happened to be the right mix of factors, which will never be duplicated again. Before this I had tasted a few renditions of Altbier in the states and thought it was a fairly tasty brew but nothing incredible about it, i.e. I did not go out of my way to purchase American made Altbier. That first smell and taste was absolutely stunning. It was definitely up there with one of the best beers that I have ever had. I was definitely not expecting this taste experience. It was malty sweet and there was a definite fruitiness brought on by a combination of the hops and malt. The hop aroma and flavor was what really blew me away. You could tell that this was a fresh beer. The color was a good solid brilliantly clear red.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

I struggled to find fault with this beer, but have to stick with the high numbers, as it was just fabulous and is from one of my favorite styles of beer. The aroma was malty, caramel, nuts, although not easy to pick up. I thought I detected a touch of bubblegum too. The appearance was beautiful, pouring as pretty as any altbier, light copper color with a nice fluffy head, and superb lacing on the way down. Flavor was tilted more to the malty side than Uerige of Fucshcen, but as with any fine alt, still with some display of the hoppy bitter balance. Touches of nuts were behind a fruitiness that was quite pleasant. Mouthfeel was perfect, smooth, tilted a touch to the moderately heavy side for the style. I had to stop after 3 of these only to save some steam for the next two stops of the night, but if you hit Im Schlussel in Dusseldorf and nothing else, you've done just fine. I'm glad to have finally hit this one on my fifth or six trip to the area.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Draught at Zum Schlussel, Altstadt, Dusseldorf. Fantastic, clear looking beer with lovely creamy, white, long lasting head. Hoppy, malty aroma. Nicely balanced taste. Smooth and very drinkable. I think I just prefer Uerige Alt to this, but it’s close.