Les Trois Mousquetaires Sticke Alt

Alt beer is a fine tradition of Düsseldorf, capital city of the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia. Founded in the 12th century and largely destroyed during the second world war, Düsseldorf was rebuilt and is today a fine place to visit for the many pubs that offer Alt in the Altstadt (go there also for a football match to experience a pitch invasion). Alt is an ale, not a lager, and is made with dark malts for a copper colour, two facts that makes Alt unusual for a German beer. Alt is also the German word for old, alluding to the way beers used to be made in the good old days when beer was served for breakfast and lunch as the main course. Sticke Alt is a special type of Alt, typically being higher in alcohol and more pronounced in one or more other characteristics. The Oxford Companion to Beer states that the word Sticke is derived from a local word for gossip, and that when a brewer made a beer that was stronger and more nourishing, the word spread via the grapevine so that only those who were well connected knew when and where to get it. This shows once again that it is not about what you know, but who you know.

The featured Sticke Alt from la Microbrasserie les Trois Mousquetaires comes in a mighty 750 ml bottle and boasts 6% alcohol by volume. Not a bad find, thanks to the good word from my trusted sources, I must say. The brewery is located in Brossard, on the infamous South Shore across the river from Montreal, a place that is the epitome of a North-American suburban horror show. I brought this beer into the hot tub and found that she made a good figure in front of the artificial waterfall. I love the copper colour of this beer and the head was out of this world (see picture below). It has a strong dark grain flavour, starting off with some acidic notes but then morphing into a pleasant grain bitterness of burnt toast. The lingering hops bitterness combined well with the grain in the way stouts manage to marry those two flavours. All for one beer and all beers for one!

Label detail - the three lads plus d'Artagnan:

Evidence of an abundance of miniscule bubbles (with a few big ones inbetween) in the super-creamy and rock-solid head of this beer.