Allgäuer Altenmünster Brauer Bier urig würzig
ABV: 5.3%
Origin: Altenmünster, Bayern, Germany
Website: www.altenmuenster-brauerbier.de
First published: 5 February 2001
Another review from the archive written for the pioneering Oxford Bottled Beer Database (OBBD). I’ve left it uncorrected — so please read it in that historical spirit, especially as in this case I guessed horribly wrong about the beer’s origins.
Altenmünster has nothing to do with Münster in Nordrein-Westfalen: it’s in Schwaben (Swabia) in Bavaria. The beer is a lager, not an Alt or Kölsch style. The beer is still around in its stoppered bottle, though in 2002 the original Sailerbräu brewery was taken over and closed, and the brand is now based at Allgäuer in Kempten, now part of the Oetker/Radeberger group. The strength has been reduced to 4.9%.
I picked this up from Bottles in east London, knowing little about it but perhaps attracted by the chunky Grolsch-style swing-top bottle. I then tried to find background references to it, but ended up having to go to the company’s website. It’s a bit of an oddity – it’s broadly in a Kölsch or Altbier style, a golden beer brewed with ale yeast but lagered, though it’s not from the classic region. Perhaps as the name suggests it’s from close to Münster where Pinkus Müller brews an Alt.
Whatever its origin, it’s an excellent brew. It’s a beautiful pale blond, pouring with a fine, lively mousse and some head. The aroma is rich, honeyed and malty with a flowery, citrus-peel character that suggests Styrian hops. The taste is lovely and clean, slightly honeyed with melon notes and a developing, exquisitely delicate flowery hoppiness.
The hops take on a lime-like character in the pleasant finish, receding beneath the crisp malt for a while, then returning for a late burst of citric bitterness way back in the throat. Well worth looking out for.
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