United Nations of Beer

Olde Number 22 Alt Bier

by Bill Cassidy
(Beer Delegate, MN, USA)

Olde Number 22 Alt Bier
Arbor Brewing Company, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

The Olde Number 22 Alt Bier got me with that number. That was my number back when I played hockey, so I was forced by power of nostalgia to try the beer.

I was less impressed. According to the website, the Olde 22 is "brewed in the tradition of the German "sticke" or "secret" alt which was a fuller, darker, and higher alcohol alt served unadvertised by German brewpubs at regular ale prices as a reward to regular customers who knew to ask for it."

I guess, when visiting Düsseldorf, I didn't know how to ask for the "sticke" and thus never tried the real thing.

Needless to say I was expecting a non-"sticke" alt. Much like Schell's Schmaltz Alt. I felt this beer was a generic dark and unremarkable ale, off the mark of an Alt. Pleasantly malty and some hops to offset it all. Not bad for one glass, but did not the highlight of my Detroit beer trip.