Poured from bottle into a snifter
Appearance – The beer pours a ruby color with a one finger head of fizzy white foam. The head fades quite fast to leave a light level of foamy lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is strong of dark fruit smells with lots of cherry, plum, and raisin being present. Along with these aromas comes some big bready smells as well as some nice caramel, brown sugar, and vanilla smells. There is also a decent showing of an alcohol smell, which with the rest, creates a nice warming smell.
Taste – The taste begins with a quite bready and malty flavor that has a good deal of sugary sweetness upfront. The malty flavors is a mix of a grainy bread and doughy taste, while the sweet is strongest of a brown sugar and caramel taste. There is also a good showing of dark fruitiness upfront, with plenty of raisin, plum, and harvest fruit present. As the taste advances the sweeter flavor increase as the malty decreases a little bit. All the while a hint of grass and herb come to the tongue, along with a moderately strong warming boozy taste, which with the increase in sweet and decrease in malt, creates a very rich and warming taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – For a doppelbock of its strength, and for the mix of bread, fruit, and alcohol, the feel is a little bit on the thinner side. The carbonation level is rather moderate to low, which for the style, is quite nice, so overall the feel is pretty decent.
Overall - A rather easy drinking doppel at it’s abv. Approachable, warming, and still rather drinkable. All in all, it is a good brew that doesn’t weigh you down like most doppel’s, but still has a good level of flavor.