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Subject: JudgeNet Digest #735 (Apr 11, 1994)
Date: 11 Apr 94 05:14:35 EST (Mon)


JudgeNet Digest #735				   Mon 11 Apr 1994


			 THE BEER JUDGE DIGEST

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Contents:
  Re: 1995 Style Guidelines for Altbier    (Rick Garvin (703-761-6630))

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sun, 10 Apr 1994 20:54:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: rgarvin at btg.btg.com (Rick Garvin (703-761-6630))
Subject: Re: 1995 Style Guidelines for Altbier

Roger Deschner  <U52983%UICVM at UIC.EDU> writes:

> Back to my batch. I am targeting it to be 50 IBUs. 
<snip>
> There appears to be a contradiction between the text
> description "medium to high bitterness" and the chart "25-35 IBUs". How I
> think this should be fixed: "Units of bitterness vary from the lower 30s
> to the 50s." - Michael Jackson, in Pocket Guide.
> 
> And I'm not so sure about the prohibition against hop flavor and aroma -
> one concept of Alt is that it is "IPA that's been cold-conditioned and
> has a German accent in both malt and hop". In describing Schumacher, one
> of the Dusseldorf beers, Jackson says, "a lovely delicacy of aromatic hop
> character." Better text for the style guidelines: "Hop flavor and aroma
> OK, but should not predominate."
> 
> I would also suggest adding something like "Special seasonal variation
> called 'Sticke' is higher gravity, and is dry hopped."

Anyone who has spent time in Germany has seen Alt beers all over the
country. These are not to be confused with Dusseldorfer Alt. These
non-Dusseldorfer styles are (entirely in my experience) dark malty
brews. These are VERY different from the Dusseldorfer product. Even the
Dusseldorfer products have a great range in color, flavor and
bitterness.

So, I would consider having at least two seperate styles. One would be
Dusseldorfer and the other would cover those other beers.

On the character of Dusseldorfer, I find a good bit of hop flavor in
them and a detectable hop aroma. I think that Roger's description: "Hop 
flavor and aroma OK, but should not predominate." is well said. 

As for hop bitterness, I think that 35-50+ IBUs would be about right for
the Dusseldorfer Alt. We will see how the first round judges at
Oldenburg like 50+ IBUs since I sent one of my Alts.

As for those other Alts, I need to think about those some before I could
make a stab at it. I remember a malty full-bodied caramel brown ale
character. Maybe a 13P brown ale.

Cheers, Rick

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End of JudgeNet Digest
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