Samuel Adams Double Bock (Imperial Series)
Poured from a 12 oz bottle into nonic pint glass. A - Clear brown with a reddish tint. Three fingers of tan head rise with moderate retention. Moderate lacing as well. S - Not bad, but a little weaker than I'd expect. Lots of subdued brown sugar and caramel, with dark bread in the background. Slight notes of chocolate and sour dark fruit. T - Ridiculously sweet. This brew tastes a lot like wort smells. A balance of brown sugar and bread with tons of sweetness. There's really nothing else going on until late palate, where there's an interesting fruity sweetness that bears a little too much resemblance to Sam Adam's Imperial White. I don't really expect to find similarities between a wheat based, spiced ale and an uber malty lager. There's a big spike of molasses in the finish accompanied with some alcohol. Double Bock is sweet throughout and strangely lacking in any real flavor. It's not bad, there's just too much sweetness above anything else that might be going on. M - Full bodied, moderate to low carbonation. Syrupy, viscous, and really syrupy. D - I wouldn't call Double Bock horrible but it's more out of whack than it should be. There are some semi-interesting bready flavors going on from time to time but it's just too damn sweet, and as it warms to room temperature the alcohol is becoming unpleasantly noticable.