TENAYA CREEK’s “10TH ANNIVERSARY ALT”

Every time I go to Las Vegas, which unfortunately is at least twice a year for work, I always get a hankering to visit the one and only true craft brewer I know about out there, TENAYA CREEK BREWERY. Trouble is, on an expense account it’s still difficult to justify a $30 cab fare each way “for dinner”, as this place is nowhere near The Strip (and good for them, because The Strip is maybe my least favorite place on earth). So I have to let their beer come to me. I’ve only tried one other drink from these guys before, TENAYA CREEK IMPERIAL STOUT, which I rated 7/10 two years ago. This time I was served up a glass of TENAYA CREEK 10TH ANNIVERSARY ALT; yep, the pride of Dusseldorf, transplanted to the Las Vegas Strip by a Nevada brewer. Let’s see what transpired.

10TH ANIVERSARY ALT is a clear copper altbier, very clean in its taste but still with a sharpness I didn’t recognize from my alt-drinking days in the altstadt in Dusseldorf, ahhhh, back in 2002. Some hoppiness and bittering to go with the faint caramel taste, and medium carbonation. You know what? There’s just not a lot of there there. It’s not an easy-drinker that you’d want to have a few of, nor is it “an event” the way some I’ll-only-try-it-once-in-my-life beers can be. I’m going to keep trying TENAYA CREEK beers as I come across them – just not this one. 5.5/10.