Penn Penndemonium

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

A solid pour produces a two-finger thick, pale tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is a light amber color that shows a pretty copper color when held up to the light. The aroma smells of concentrated pale malt, pale toasted grain, a touch of toffee, a light herbal spiciness, a touch of grassiness and maybe even a hint of lemon zest. The nose is fairly mellow on this beer, it could certainly use a touch more expressiveness, but what is here is certainly enjoyable.

Fairly dry up front, but this does pick up some malt sweetness to it. The sweetness mixes with the hop notes and in the finish even takes on a touch of something like a herbal honey. This finishes with a touch of buttery malt flavor as well as a light bitterness that is noticeable but not biting enough to hold the sweet malt in check. This is not an overly sweet beer, in fact I was expecting it to be a bit sweeter than it is. The body has a richness and heft to it that sticks to the palate with a viscous coating quality, still this is not overly heavy as it is not really cloying. Despite being a bit more malt focused, this is actually fairly well balanced between malt and hop, especially when you take into account the herbal hop character. A nice toasty, pale grain character that contributes a touch of dried hay notes peeks through the malt sweetness from time to time.

Not bad, there seems to be a soft diacetyl influence at times that can make this a bit on the buttery side, but it is not overwhelming, even though I can be particularly sensitive to it at times.

Aroma: 2 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 3 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 4

I have to say, from the start I’m a little disappointed in this one. Pennedomium? A bronze colored body A weak foamy white head that disappears all too quickly leaving not even a lacing. It is a thin, oily bodied beer. Hops and metallic-sweet malt in the aroma. Sweet, bready with background of floral hops in the background.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

For a brew from one of my favorite micros, I found this new Penn Brewery creation to be a real downer. The clear yellow hue sits underneath a thin white leave of suds. Malty scents and tastes were there, but it's the dryness of the mouthfeel and aftertaste that made this unimpressive for me. Which leads me to ask, is this really a Dopplebock? Oh well, I guess a mediocre review of a Penn Brewery beer was forthcoming eventually.

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

This is a little disappointing. It’s looks beautiful, this deep, clear, rich gold body catches the light beautifully. But the aroma and flavor fall a bit flat. The aroma is weak and thin and while the flavor has the peppery alcohol bite and the dried fruits of a normal doppelbock, but manages to come off watery. How you make a beer this big watery is beyong me, though. They weren’t lieing about it being dangerously drinkable. This is the Bud Lite drinker’s doppelbock.