Allgauer Cambonator

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

On tap at Hollingshead Deli in Anaheim, 17 oz pour into a dimpled mug. Slightly hazy brown with reddish orange highlights. White head fades slowly leaving solid sheets of lacing. Fruity aroma with caramel, toffee, malts. Malt dominated flavor, slightly chocolate, caramel, and some mild hoppiness to finish. More full bodied than expected, very smooth, alcohol is hidden. Well made example of a doppelbock, highly enjoyed. Kenny the bartender told me to enjoy, because this was the last keg, and the brewer will no longer be exporting to the States.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Beer pours with a nice frothy head, but no lacing, the exact color of cola. Aroma is hard to describe...it smells sweet. The flavor is also really sweet, bordering on but not quite too sweet. A lot going on in this one, sweet dark fruit, some earthiness...not quite smokey but maybe musty and nutty in some fashion. Really hard to describe, but pretty good. The mouthfeel was rich and almost crisp like a lager. I enjoyed this.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Brownish to black, nice thick head when poured splashily. Slightly metallic aroma, and it's very faint. Sweet, treacly, crunchy malt flavor. The finish is slightly bitter, and reminds me of dark chocolate. I really like this entry in the "dunkler doppelbock" style.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

A maroon almost black colored beer poured somewhat thick into the glass. It was like a meal in a glass. A very malty sweet smelling beer that had the smell of roasted malts and caramel. This full bodied doppelbock had a nice roasted caramel flavor on the palate that was seductive and simply scrumptious.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 5

Pours into my 25cl tulip with a four finger thick, dirty, light brownish, tan colored head that sits atop a dark, opaque, black-amber colored beer that shows a brilliantly clear, purple tinged, deeply red hue when held up to the light. The aroma is an interesting mix of concord grape aromatics, toasty grain, biscuit malt, perhaps a hint of dusty chocolate and a hint of an herbal edge to it. Really the concord grape aroma is the most noticeable thing about the nose.

Fairly sweet, but the concord grape note has become more of a berry-like note in the flavor. Rich, but not overly thick, about a middle of the road thickness, though perhaps a bit on the light side. Chalky malt notes of cocoa, toasted grain and soda crackers seem to become noticeable somewhere in the middle through to the finish of this beer. There is a hint of bitterness here, but there is also a touch of herbal character that could be ascribed to a hop influence. Still that malt induced fruity berry notes are the dominant note here, at times it is a little distracting. Really this is just not all that appealing to me.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Bottle, pour is burgandy brownish, nice generous off-white head, great retention, nice lacing too. The aroma was quite pleasant, earthy, musty, lightly grassy, dark fruits, nice grapey-ness, itty bitty touch of floral notes. The flavor was earthy, grassy, grapey (this, the grapes, my favorite part), other dark fruits, dry breadiness, only light chocolate under it all, faint. The mouthfeel was dry, lager-like crisp, nothing sticky about this one. This was a darned impressive beer, very drinkable, lots going on, great melding of the various flavors. Not as much depth and slightly less complexity, but right up there with Celebrator and Andechs DD in my book. Wow, Allgauer makes something good?

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Tall, 16.9 oz. (half liter) bottle from KCC Round 4.Some people reach for Tecate on Cinco de Mayo. These folks go with the flow and do the right thing, selecting a light-bodied lager from Mexico. And then some rebel rousers reach for the complete opposite: a dark, thick double bock from Germany. Dark brown, clear, red-gold on the edges. Tan head. Little carbonation to sustain the quickly fading head. Intense grain aroma. Taste is full of grain, dried fruit, a dank smokiness. Thick, tooth-coating body. Slightly metallic aftertaste. When it comes to pairing beer with spicy Mexican food, think 3Cs: cut (Corona), complement (Cave Creek Chili), or contrast (Cambonator).

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Pours dark bown with a low head that dissipates yet provides decent lacing. Malty, fruity, almost a bit like a light barleywine + cider. Finish is of sweet fruit. Nice.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

This doppelbock is dark brown in color with a slight ruby huge. Decent but fast fading head at the top of the glass. Aroma is sweet, caramel, molasses, and malt. Taste of sweet malt and burnt caramel come to mind. Smooth and creamy in the mouth and easy to drink. A fine Doppelbock

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Ok, ok....! I get it now, ok?!? I officially renounce my Everlasting Hatred Of All things Dopplebock, ok...? Can I now please get off the cross?

But seriously, I still think that Celebrator is the be-all and end-all for this style of beer. This is, on the whole, a pretty decent beer. But considering that I'm not a huge fan of the style (considering that I used to Hate It With The Fiery Passion Of A Thousand Suns not too long ago, that's pretty good for me), this is still decent, overall.

Malt, malt, malt... a thousand times Malt -- that's what this beer's about. But stil seems kinda lacking compared to a few other examples of this style (both foreign and domestic). That is to say, the malty goodness just doesn't do a whole lot for me....

Not-at-all a bad beer per se, but just seems to "go through the motions", or.... as they they say in the radio/recording industry, it was strictly "phoned in". Even as a non-Doppelbock fan, I've had better.
//TB