Barrel Aged Sixthanator Doppelbock
West Sixth Brewing Company

Pours a murky brown good walnut highlights, small head falls to ring bubbles not much lace.

Aroma is sweet malty, good dark fruits, loads of Bourbon, vanilla, oak and good spice notes.

Tastes is nice rich Doppelbock with some extra sugars rich dark fruits, light coffee hints loads of malty goodness. Good barrel notes bourbon, vanilla, oak and light alcohol notes.

Mouhfeel is big medium smooth easy sipping beer

Overall a good complex enjoyable treat.

There they go messing with my favorite malty beer style. Turning the highly complex, smooth, robust and savory Dopplebock into something of an Imperial Lager with heavy bourbon barrel character. West Sixth's renovated style does more than just sprucing up the beer.

Deep brown and with mahogany threads through the center, the light and mysteriously hazy lager floats a creamy foam of light sepia undertones. As the scent rises, it does so with the savory, toasty, sweet sorghum aromas of German Bock, but its coconut, vanilla, woodsy whisky spice is certainly a cause for contemplation. Doubling down on the sweetness, the beer's malty attitude starts and finishes with honey, caramel, toffee, toasted sorghum and brown sugar.

As the sweetness stews on the palate, approaching cloying tastes and textures, the fat and luxurious malt flavors allow for a toasted taste of cashew, pastry, granola and light coffee. A slim hint of dark fruit shares minute aspects of date, fig, grape and apple. with another hint of sherry, the late taste is all bourbon with those coconut, vanilla, sweet oak, nuttiness and whisky spice.

Full bodied and certainly not as drinkable as standard Dopplebock, this Barrel Aged Sixthanator is more of a barleywine made in the bock beer style, finishing malty-sweet and with the slimmest of bitterness. Long lasting with a rich malt structure, the beer isn't nearly as difficult to drink as I had feared.