 willblake (1942), Long Branch, New Jersey, USA
Apr 22, 2008 20061007 Tap at Kennett 06. Liked this one quite a bit. Medium brown with much head, thick and tan. Smoky tobacco and distant forest fire. Full, sticky body, rich and savory. Complex and sweet with nice mingling of smoke and dark honey malts. Finishes with more nuttiness, sticky, dark toffee, lingering. Delicious - I’m a sucker for smoky doppelbocks.
axilla (942), New Providence, Pennsylvania, USA
Jan 22, 2007 Pour was a hazy copper/brown color with a clingy, off-white head. Aroma is dry smoke and a little roasted malts. Flavors are smoke, dry oak, toast, roasted malts, with subtle but sweet grapes in the finish.
Dickinsonbeer (2550), Hoboken, New Jersey, USA
Dec 28, 2006 KSBF 06. Pours a deep woody amber, slight haze, and an awesome sticky tight off white head. Aroma is campfire smoke, sweet and caramelly with some chocolate, smoked salted meats, and some light plasticy phenols. More meaty smoke and woody burnt malts in the flavor with a slight saltiness, sweet caramel malts. Full mouthfeel and sticky sweet. Good toasty smoky almond lingering finish. Real smooth.
ClarkVV (3547), Allston, Massachusetts, USA
Dec 11, 2006 Draught samples at Kennett Fest, 10/7/06
Very frothy, large, aerated head is a light cappucino color, providing excellent, sticky lace down the glass. Medium to medium-high retention. Tobacco/maple brown body shows low clarity and has some rust and beige tints.
Dry smoke in the nose is not overly meaty (salt, bacon, sausage) relative to a Schlenkerla, but shows a more reserved woodsmoke/tobacco/char aroma. Medium dry chocolate malt notes are intersparsed, delightfully, with dry coffee-like roast and soft vanilla-toffee hints. A very faint note of yellow raisins can even be found on the finish. Medium to medium-high strength of aroma, with no alcohol apparency. Very dry for a doppelbock, with some hints of lager yeast on the finish. Clean and properly lagered.
Dry chocolate and coffee bean crunchiness initially strips the palate, and only gradually is a light vanilla-cream and raisin-like sweetness added back. With warming, some base malts mix with the chocolate malts but also mingle with the oak-hickory-like smokiness and do not fully sweeten. Tobacco and some breadiness (perhaps paperiness) sit on the end, dryly, while light raisin and vanilla chewiness collects. A fair amount of acidity (smoked malt and/or dark malt phenol?) definitely builds up as well, unfortunately, and somewhat distracts from the drinkability (but does add an interesting dark berry-skin note). Carbonation is a bit loose and the beer has moments of wateriness on the finish. But even if the palate/mouthfeel are not quite up to par, the array of flavors and utter lack of any brewing flaws certainly wins back support. Yeast presence is low; some sparkle of lager yeast crispness is evident on the finish, but is minimal.
eaglefan538 (2077), Wilmington, Delaware, USA
Nov 4, 2006 Poured a ruby-light brownish in color, decent head for the style, average lacing. The aroma was raisins, some dough, and roasted malts. The flavor was raisins first, as well as some American hoppiness (pineapples and grapefruits, interesting in this style). As temperature increased, some coffee notes came out. Mouthfeel was a bit thin and acidic, somewhat of an astringent note. An intersting take on the style, but not my cup of tea.
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