Bottle/Tap: Bottle

I hit one of my usual beer spots the other day and slapped a mix six together. Lately, I’ve been trying beers from breweries I’m not familiar with, which is why Southampton’s Altbier made it in to the box. After a convincing recommendation I felt I should give it a go.

Altbier is a German style of beer, traditional red ale. Unlike a Killian’s, an Irish red, this German ale was smooth and had some extra bite to make it intriguing. I’m not too big into red ales, but I will make the exception here.

The color of this ale was a pale red and had a slightly bitter aroma. The ale itself had a creamy bitter taste, not too bitter. There was enough bitter to hit the sides of your tongue, and it was really refreshing.

Irish reds are usually very straight forward with flavor and have a deeper red color. This German was complex, and you had to drink a bit before it revealed all the potential.

Did I mention how smooth this beer was? No? Ridiculously smooth. After half the bottle I was beginning to regret that it was my only one. This is one of those gems I seem to have been coming across lately; I’m on a hot streak. Actually, shouldn’t that be a cold streak? No one drinks hot beer.

You really could liken this beer to a lager but much creamier. The fellow that convinced me to buy it warned me that this beer was very drinkable. Southampton Brewery is located in New York, and it sounds like they brew many traditional German beers with a twist. I was very impressed with this beer and would gladly try anything else by Southampton.