Sled Dog Dopplebock
Wagner Valley Brewing Co.

Dark amber with slight reddish tint. Light tan head , that leaves a very thin ring.

Smell is toffee, brown bread, and hints of spice and dried stone fruit & fig.

Taste is lightly-sweet & sticky brown bread, a la gingerbread minus the ginger, slight raisin, fig, and dried cherries, plus a little wood, roasted walnuts, and coriander.

Feel is medium, slightly slick, with light, very,very fine carbonation tingle on the latter half. Slight lingering drying effect.

Overall, a nice doppelbock. The slight dryness near finish keeps it from being cloying, and puts it above the crowd. & the price is nice too. :) [$9.95/6pk]

Poured into a grip shaped goblet: color is dark amber, head light tan with fine bubbles, head presents 1/4in thick then dissipates to just a ring on the glass sides.

Smell is rich malt, caramel, toast, toffee, munich, grape nuts, some booziness.

Taste is big malt, caramel, raisin, toast, toffee, some cocoa, big munich malt and grape nuts, more limited booziness in the aroma.

Mouthfeel is a bit sharp on first pour but smooths with some warmth - moderate carbonation, moderate sweetness, low bitterness but maybe a lingering carbonic bite.

Overall a bigger doppelbock than most but it holds its own and has big flavor match.

 

Pours a dark burnt number with a tan head.

Smells of malted bread with flowery and bitter herb hops.

Dark toasted whole grain bread with roasted nuts and bitter herb.

 

 

7-16-20 update: Flavor is solid with dark malts, dark chocolate, and coffee with some toffee. I'm not sure why I gave "taste" only a 3.5 rating before. This isn't the greatest doppelbock ever, but it's solid with no off flavors.

Original rating: 3.65

Got a bottle of this last month on a trip I went on recently with my wife to the Finger Lakes region of New York for a vacation. Poured out of a 12 oz bottle into a mug. This beer pours a clear, dark copper, deep amber brown color with some ruby highlights around th edges when held up to the lights. Has lots of streams of little bubbles fairly rapidly and continuously rising to the beer's surface. Has an off-white head that's about 2/3 of an inch thick when initially poured that settles to solid surface coating film layer of foam along with a thick ring lining the inside of the glass. Decent lacing. Aromas of toasted, bready, caramel malt sweetness along with fruity notes of dates, plums, a bit of dark red apple, and a bit of rye and other spice. The taste follow suit, with toasted, bready caramel malt sweetness followed by date, plum, and dark red apple fruity sweetness along with a nice spice bite from hints of rye, slightly peppery clove, and just a slight hint of cinnamon. Not really any discernible hop flavor for my palate. Quite a good flavor profile overall. Has a crisp, slightly sticky and chewy, yet also smooth, medium bodied mouthfeel with moderate carbonation. has a clean finish and somewhat dry aftertaste. A very nice beer all around here.

Eric

 

 

 

 

L: Clear maroon with a tight beige head. Moderate retention, and some spotty lacing.

S: Gingerbread and fruit cake. Dark brown rye bread thickness, some cinnamon and allspice, big dried dark fruits like cherry, date, prune, and white raisin.

T: Tons of banana bread, gingerbread, some cherry, date, prune, and raisin. Bready sweet throughout, with a faint kiss of herbal hops on the finish, along with a touch of alcohol warmth and some allspice/cinnamon/clove.

F: Medium-bodied, moderately-carbonated, feels lightly creamy.

O: An excellent doppelbock. A great sipper!

 

 

A: [3.25] The bottle doesn't list the ABV or a born on date. The beer is a brown mahogany color. It forms a small 1/2 finger of off white head.

S: [3.50] It has the leathery dopplebock scent. Really dark (but not burnt) caramel. Maybe apple pie spices.

T: [2.75] The taste is not as forward as the nose. Mild brown bread. Light caramel notes.

M: [3.00] Decent body. Really low carbonation - not any tingle on the tongue at all. There is nothing lingering on the palate either.

O: [3.00] This beer is really lacking flavor for a 8.5% beer. The flavor is just muted and understated. Really mild caramel and toffee but nothing pronounced at all. I also ding this beer for not listing the ABV (inexcusable) and there is no date coding. The beer also seems undercarbonated to me. Overall the flavor isn't bad (there just isn't much of it) and the nose is decent. It just doesn't add up to a beer worth repeating.

 

 

 

 

12/5...pours caramel brown, on the darker side and not light enough to see through. Foam acts fast and settles out completely. Heavy bread malt nose is all you get, little else discerned. Sweet caramel malt flavors with just a hint of a bitter astringency close. Thick mouthfeel, almost cloying. Hits the style but not great.

 

 

Bottle purchased at Chocolate and Vines in Rochester, NY.

This one pours a mostly clear amber, with a small head, and no lacing.

Smells like rum soaked raisins, chocolate, and toffee.

This is really pretty mild, when it comes to dopplebocks. It's got a slight booziness, with a thin malt backbone, some dark fruit, raisins mainly, a little bit of chocolate, and toffee. It doesn't have that deep malt complexity I desire in this style. Fairly disappointing.

This is pretty thin bodied for a dopplebock, with a moderate to lower level of carbonation.

Really disappointing stuff here. It's certainly not bad, and I happily finished the bottle, but I couldn't recommend it to anyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Amber color with mild head and mild carbonation. Not a lot of aroma. Mild hops and some sweetness. Copper metallic flavor. Slight hop and sweet flavors. Not very good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a lighter than usual apricot tinted brown. This foamed over when I popped the cap, but there wasn't much in the way of carbonation two minutes after the pour.

Smells of nutty malts, lightly sweet bread, mild tofee, and a bit fruit (figs?). There is also a well incorporated perfumed warmth. Doesn't taste as good as it smells unfortunately. Moderate sweetness up front, sweet bread and toffee mostly. The finish is warm, dry cocoa that tastes out of place. This is light bodied and under carbonated.