5.2

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4

Draught at the brewery, 1/30/16.
Deep auburn-crimson body has a tan element to it, good clarity and a beige head atop with moderate retention.
Smoke in the nose is somewhat salty, lightly ashy and quite fruity, though that’s certainly a combination with the strong maltiness present. Tons of vinous notes with toffee, vanilla and buttercream. A bit of more dry ash/char-like character on the end, but mostly quite powerfully malty and richly smokey.
Heavily sweet in the flavor, with a huge burst of caramel-toffee, heavy melanoidins and toasted malt notes. By the time you feel the smoke, it’s just too much, adding strong, salty flavors, rich campfire and light bacon. Alcohol, more toasted malt and a light ash are the only things attempting to balance and they fail miserably at doing so. Way, way, way too sweet. Nothing wrong with a malty doppelbock, but this doesn’t have the requisite acidity on the finish to balance. Creamy, near-syrupy texture with medium carbonation.