Week 6 of 52
Alt Bier at the Herkimer
February 4th thru 10th
Brewer's Description
Copper-colored and hoppy, this beer is most easily compared to a German form of a pale ale. Popular around Dusseldorf, the name means simply "old" and recalls a time before Germany made primarily lagers. This beer features a high bitterness and aroma characteristic of generous additions of hops to the brew.
Alt Bier was a Gold Medal winner at the 2007 Great American Beer Festival.
Overall Rating based on 20 reviews
3.8 of 5 stars
Brewery Information
The Herkimer Pub & Brewery
Minneapolis, Minnesota
theherkimer.com
The First Brew52 Meet Up
Over 50 Brew52'ers met up at the Herkimer on February 6th at 6pm to hang out and taste the Alt Bier!
Photography
Check out some photos from the event on Erin's flickr set.
Reviews | Learn More About the Brew52 Reviewers | Previous Beer | Next Beer
HopScotch says Unfairly kind to this brew
February 15th, 2008
Loved this beer. Perfect hoppiness and I was able to drink a few without being overwhelmed. It was refreshing and could be had with any meal. Although, I may be biased because it came from the tap and drank it in the bar. I’ll give this beer 5 stars, but I feel that it’s on an uneven playing field with past beers that came out of the bottle or can.
GirlFromMars says Tastes like More
February 13th, 2008
Yummo! I enjoyed this a lot. The Herkimer was a fun little pub that I’d like to go back to. The food and beer were both good. The alt was nice and smooth with a good flavor. I will have another.
erik says Alt meets Herkiburger
February 13th, 2008
Thanks to Ret for organizing a great Brew52 get together. Thanks Ret.
And thank you Herkimer for a hopped up Alt beer paired with a burger topped with mozzarella cheese, tobacco onions, bacon, and a raspberry bbq sauce on a toasted bun. I enjoyed the Alt, but it was a little bitey for me. I really enjoy a hoppy beer, but this one had something else going on that wasn’t screaming at me. I must say though, I used to be a smoker, and this combination really made me want a cigarette…oh, oopsi had one that night. mmmm…oooooooo…crap
Kasperado says Alt errr ego
February 13th, 2008
Maybe it was the good company, maybe the joy of hump day, but the Alt hit the proverbial spot with me. I’m not a big fan of extremely hoppy pale ales. The Alt ran the fine line between character and drinkability. I had three. I would compare it to Sierra Pale Ale which is another favorite.
Rett says Thank you Herk
February 10th, 2008
Herkimer, I got nothin but love for you. You were a most gracious host on Wednesday for the first official Brew52 meet up. You brew a mean Alt Bier, which I found to be nice and hoppy, not too bitter, and actually quite creamy. You also make some really tasty dipping sauces. I especially enjoyed dipping my mini burgers in your tangy ketchup. Yum. Thanks for supporting Brew52 and I look forward to tasting more of your great beers. Oh and even though I didn’t take advantage of it, thanks for having a shuffleboard!
elvisneedsboats says Falt
February 10th, 2008
Now, I have a bias against the Herkimer. I just don’t have a high opinion of the joint. Don’t care for the food and don’t like that the only beer I can drink when I’m there is theirs. So that said, I thought this beer tasted like the rice vinegar that was sitting on the table next to me.
Eric says At first…
February 9th, 2008
The first taste of the Alt I must say was disappointing. It just tasted off. Thankfully, it did get better as the night wore on, that “interesting” taste fading to the background. I need to do more exploring of lagers to figure out what that is. Maybe its supposed to be there. I wish I had more opportunities to get to the Herk. Good meeting a few folks.
Ben R says excellent beer
February 9th, 2008
I really enjoyed the Alt at the Herkimer, and its no surprise when its described as having “high bitterness and aroma characteristic of generous additions of hops to the brew” and is “most easily compared to a German form of a pale ale.”
Does it get any better than German AND hoppy all at the same time??!?
I liked the Alt the best of the 4 beers I tried at the Herkimer and I will definitely get it again the next time I go.
atankgirl says “Alt love you. No, seriously, Alt LOOOOVE you.”
February 9th, 2008
So, to my surprise, Alt was the name of the beer we were tasting, not the fancy schmany brand that Rett made to symbolize our Alt[ernative] meet-up this week. Also, to my surprise, this beer was INCREDible. It was like Newcastle (my all time favorite) on flavor steroids. Unfortunately for me, I was low on sleep, heavy on homework, and responsible for driving Nick back home, so I limited myself to just one (amazing) glass. I loved every last sip of it . . . dare I say, this is my first 5 star beer?!
slepow says good stuff, good times….
February 9th, 2008
The beer was good, and like another reviewer said, the first thought I had was butterscotchy. Which isn’t a bad taste for a beer to have. Although, typically I like to drink the beer as I review, so my memory cells are really being expanded right now.
Mac says Hooray for the Herkimer!
February 7th, 2008
What a great meet-up at the Herkimer!!! The beer was good, the food was good, and I found all the brew52ers to be an enjoyable group of people! And as a bonus I won a 12 pack of the Summit Winter!
I’m always a little nervous meeting new people, so I am not sure I did a really good job evaluating the ALT, but I’m thinking it was pretty darn good. I will certainly visit the Herkimer again!
CJ Camp says …
February 7th, 2008
good
5igmund says Sticky Fingers
February 7th, 2008
Again thanks Rett for organizing not only the site but the event last night as well. It was good to meet a large chunk of people on this site, it just makes the reviews much more relevant.
This was a decent beer for me. I would not say it was anything special but it was pleasant to drink and there was really nothing that totally turned me off about it. This is a sweet beer not cider sweet but still sweet enough that when I spilled some of my full beer on my fingers they were sticky all night. Well at least until I went to the restroom.
Aaron says Great event, good beer.
February 7th, 2008
Thanks to Rett and The Herkimer for the great event.
For me, I’ve only been to The Herkimer a couple times before. First time I didn’t like any of the beers I tried. Second time one wasn’t bad. This trip has turned me around on the place.
The Alt was good but hard to dissect. I couldn’t really put my finger on what it was that I liked about it and even worse I couldn’t figure out what it was that I didn’t like about it. After awhile though, I realized I’d have no problem drinking a few of these. And I did. Thankfully with the magic of this site I can let other people describe the beer. I just can’t seem to do it. I can rate it, though!
Later in the night I met up with some other friends and drank some more. It seemed that all the staff there was recommending the Bock. It is indeed a really good beer there right now. If you head down to the Herkimer, I say try both the Alt and the Bock.
Staff last night was great and handled the large group well. Really friendly. I’ll be back.
berrywise says Thanks Rett
February 7th, 2008
That was pretty well laid out last night. Free drink, complimentary bottle opener, raffle prizes, custom name tags. Brew52 goes all out. I posted a few pictures on my blog.
Now to the beer. Maybe I was hoping for to much, maybe I was still reeling a bit from the food poisoning that took me down over the weekend, whatever it was I don’t know the beer just didn’t sit right with me. A bit to sweet perhaps, a bit to syrupy in the after taste, something just didn’t click for me. Was it terrible? By no means, just not something I’d continue to order.
I think I’ll stick to Schell’s Schmalt’s Alt as my favorite alt beer.
Josh says Party at Herkimer, and in my mouth
February 7th, 2008
The Herkimer Alt is aptly named as a great alternative to standard pale ale. It has the hops and smoothness of pale ale with an extra German kick that makes it stand apart. I’m not sophisticated enough to know what it is but I like it.
It was great to meet many of the Brew52 reviewers, thanks for setting it up Rett. Also, thanks to the staff at The Herkimer for their hospitality!
Erin says Good company, fine beer
February 6th, 2008
It was great to meet some of you at the Herkimer tonight! I took some photos that can be found here. As usual, I didn’t like this beer - perhaps it was too hoppy for me? Although I’m not really sure what that means. I had a Sky Pilot after sampling the Alt, and I liked that one a whole lot better.
moe says Herkimer Alt
February 6th, 2008
Very nice pale ale with just enough hops to make it smooth. Something about the beers at Herkimer that I’ve never enjoyed before, but this one was very different, must be why it won an award at the GABF.
manofwy says Butterscotch Candy
February 6th, 2008
The first sip of the Alt seemed like something other than beer. It took a couple of sips to determine what that taste was - butterscotch! You know that butterscotch syrup that you put over ice cream. I don’t recommend using beer over ice cream. It was creamy and sweet but not syrupy. I do recommend Bailey’s Irish Cream over chocolate ice cream but that’s a different story. All in all, I was able to get past the butterscotch taste and enjoy the brew. I also very much enjoyed the company and hope that we will have more meet ups during the year.
mattberan says Alternate Beir
February 6th, 2008
A great lager, but only one please. It’s great body and fine flavor is only killed by the curse that is it’s sweetness. This is one of the few lagers I’ve had that is full flavored and delicious. This beer inspires me to find the darkest lager I think that will be the best lager. Some the best lagers in my mind: Stella, Lion Imperial, and Coney Island Lager. Beyond the sweetness. Beyond the syrup sticky sweetness, this beer is a tribute to lagers. Is it bottled?