Angel City Dunkel

Brewed by Angel City Brewing Company
Style: Dunkel
Los Angeles, California USA

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

Bottle from Hi-Time. Rich aromas of dark roasted malt and chocolate. Very dark ruby brown color with a tan head that sticks. Medium body with creamy carbonation (though a bit coarse). Flavor is dark roasted malt with chocolate, touch of coffee, and hints of dark fruits. Finishes out balanced by some hop bitter. Heading towards a baltic porter, but nowhere so sweet as those. It’s a dunkel, but has flavors commoner to porters and stouts. This is a really good drink.

on tap-pours a nice rich tan head and deep mahogany color. Aroma is dark malt, nutty. Taste is dark malt-chocolate/molasses, nutty, dark fruit-cherry, some peat, faint earthy hops. Semi dry finish. Probably big change from the Abbey is the yeast.

Aroma is roasted malts. It pours a disgusting sort of diahrea water color. Actually, iced coffee in a way. Flavor isnt complex. its roasted and dry with a little bit of chocolate I guess. There is also some mold sour flavors, but it does not overpower. It really reminds me more of a porter or brown ale than a lager, as it did not really have any lager characteristics. Oh well.

Bottle. Pours a dark redish brown with medium tan head. Aroma is mildly nutty/coffee. Flavor is semi sweet with a hint of chocolate and coffee. Decently malty, but not heavy. Very clean. I thought this was an excellent, if a bit simple, example of a dunkel.

Tap @ Alpine Village: Pours a dark mahogany color, sweet nutty and caramelly nose, light roast and sweet malts. The flavor is about the same, semi sweet, medium body, dark malts. Finishes clean, decent dunkel. Damn, their bottle sanitation sucks, I got no sour notes from this but looks like most people did.

Bottle from BevMo, La Jolla. Dark brownish ruby color upon pouring. Malty sour aroma. All of their beers seem to have the same sour character to them. Flavor is dominated by a lactic sour quality with the dunkel hidden behind. The sour quality isn’t bad, but I don’t think it’s what they intended for a dunkel. They need to get rid of that sour crap. It really does taste like there might be a decent dunkel underneath that sour cream stuff.

From a 22 oz. bomber bottle with no freshness date. Poured a reddish ruby hued brown with a foamy, bubbly topped pale tan head that settled into a thin, slightly sudsy lacing, minimal amount of sticking. Aromas of cocoa, light coffee, nutty, brown bready and a dark fruitiness. Steady moderate carbonation and a crisp, velvety smooth, thin medium bodied mouthfeel. Tastes of coffee with a dash of cocoa and sweet caramel, roasted salty nuts, a dark berry fruitiness that adds a little sourness, the hops are pretty subdued, a soft chocolate maltiness emerges towards the end and a fruity, sweet malty finish. Not bad, the best beer I’ve had so far for Angel City, an easy drinkability, worth trying.

Bomber. Body is a cloudy ruddy brown with a creme brule looking tan head that is mostly diminishing. The aroma is like chocolate toast mashed into a mush and allowed to sour in the hot sun. This smells wonderfully unappealing. <P> Fore is sour and tart with some sweeter malt beneath and mild chocolate/cheery flavors that without that infected sour flavor might actually taste good. Don’t waste your money like I did.