Anniversary Doppelsticke
High Water Brewing

 

 

 

 

huge head. spilled out of the bottle upon popping the cap! not shaken, just a tad volatile. thick creamy off-white heas with incredible texture. dark copper brown color.
smell is light, toffee caramel. kind of generic.
taste is sweet toffee-like caramel, nice and malty with slight bitterness. very easy to drink. nice abv of 7.5% i've had this style before and it's always been an easy drinker with a lot of character.

 

 

 

Lots of bubbles in the glass. Pours a dark amber with a frothy head. Smell of cardboard. Something winey and herbal in the flavors.

For a while this tastes a lot like wintergreen. Finally it seems to mellow out into some discernible malt variation. More like the old fruit and butter taste of an English Old Ale. Butterscotch, old tomato juice, and a whiff of Vick's VapoRub. At the finish line, there just seems to be something out of whack with this stuff. Bitterness starts to creep up in an unpleasant way.

From the 22 oz bottle bought from BevMo in San Diego.

 

 

 

The pour is amber in color with a small off-white head. Very nice caramel and toffee aroma, a hint of bread as well. There is a strong yeast note, a hint of grape, and some undertones of dark fruits. The flavor is sweet caramel and toffee malts with the same grape and dark fruit character. A touch watery when cold, but it warms up nicely. Just a bit of grain husk bitterness.

 

Poured from bottle split with a buddy

A - deep clear mahogany. Small head, decent lacing down the glass.

S - little to no nose. Unfamiliar with the style so not sure how this compares.

T - interesting. Malty with a hint of anise. Nice finish. Dryness persists.

M - medium but no idea how this style should be.

O - not familiar with this style and only moderately so with Alt beer. Interesting beer that I enjoyed. Glad I was able to try it. Fairly solid offering.

 

22 oz. bottle,

A: Pours a deep translucent brown with a creamy off-white head which leaves nice lace.

S: Notes of orange blossom and molasses cookies. Not a huge nose, but enjoyable.

T: Real nice malty flavour which never gets cloying which is nice to see. Gingerbread cookies, again the hint of orange, the ale fruit is there, but is in balance with the malt and nice back hopping, but don't get me wrong this is not a hoppy beer at all.

M: Does have some crispness upfront, but overall it's quite soft and pleasing on the palate. On the high end of medium-bodied, fairly dry on the finish. For a bigger beer, it's very drinkable.

O: Sticke Alts just don't get brewed very often, and I don't know why, they're a great style. This is just as good as Uerige, maybe it doesn't have the minerality, but this is tasty ale at a much more reasonable price.

Pours a warm mahogany, glowy and and inviting. Small, bone white head. Little lacing. The beer looks nice enough but there's no real way to judge its appearance to style.

Lots of brown sugar and caramel in the nose. The malt sweetness is rich and warm. It smells like sugary raisin bread dough. Light, herbal hops - kinda minty. Mild but definite dark fruits - raisins, plums, etc. Mild isn't quite the right term, as it's definitely a raisin-brown sugar fest, but the fruitiness is very well integrated. It's kinda sorta somewhere between an English barleywine and a bock. Layers of tasty malt and clean, fruity yeast.

Sweet but clean. Never really gets cloying, which was my initial fear. The finish is light enough for the gentle hop bite to clean up any lingering sweetness, and you're left with a spicy, fruity aftertaste. Great malt complexity. Smooth and rich without getting too heavy.

The mouthfeel is smooth and round. It coats the mouth with malt depth, shot through with spicy, herbal hops. Very little booze to be found.

I'm tempted to go higher with this score. For some foolish reason, I wasn't expecting a ton, but the good Mr. Altimari delivered with this beer. It's certainly the only beer that I've tried in the same class as Uerige's fancy little bottles. Other factors aside, I'm impressed that an American brewer could hit such a niche German sub-style - I'm drinking it out of a Moonlight glass, which seems vaguely appropriate.

 

A - Pours a fairly clear dark copper with a finger of frothy off-white head. The head fades down at a fairly slow pace leaving behind some nice lace.

S - Aroma is a mix of toasted caramel malts with some brown sugar, a hint of dark fruit, some noble hop, and a touch of biscuit.

T - Starts off with some toasted toffee malt with some light brown sugar and a bit of citrus and noble hop. Through the middle, some brown sugar and biscuit flavor comes through with a bit more hop character and a hint of bitterness. The finish is a mix of toasted caramel and biscuit with some brown sugar and a hint of dark fruit sweetness.

M - Medium bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth with a dry and lightly sweet finish.

D - Very drinkable. Really great balance of flavors from start to end. Very clean and smooth and deceptively light considering the abv.