Oak Pond Storyteller Double Bock

Brewed by Oak Pond Brewery
Style: Doppelbock
Skowhegan, Maine USA

22oz bomber courtesy of joepais poured into a tulip. Pours a deep, clear copper with a huge three inch off-white head that recedes fairly quickly to a small cap and leaves some spotty lacing. The aroma is a little weird. It’s got the standard sweet caramel malts and toffee which I was expecting, but it’s also got some vanilla and a unique sourness, especially evident as it warms. The taste follows the aroma almost exactly with the same sourness as the aroma which is a little distracting, especially as it lingers through the finish. The caramel malts and toffee are there, but it’s the sourness that shows most. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and has some soft carbonation and a dry sourness in the finish that is a little disconcerting. This is an OK doppelbock but I’m not entirely sure if it’s gone a little bad with the metallic sourness indicating a bit of oxidation.

I visted Oak Pond yesterday and picked up a case of various brews Don had. The Doppelbock was taste-tested yesterday, this has to be the beast dark beer I have had in a very long time. It has a complex but not overpowering floavor. Unlike many dark beers it does not require you chew it before you swallow it.

22 oz bottle poured reddish brown with a small white head that turned to a thin lace Aromas of sweet malts some roasted malt tossed in. The palate is creamy. Flavors of toasted malts along with sweet malts there is an ever so slite hop bitter end to it . Honestly a good doppelbock for a great price. I think this may be Oak Ponds bet offering so far. will be back for more of these

22oz bomber from Lou’s. Red-brown fairly translucent body with a half inch of off-white head.. Smells malty sweet. Tastes like a roasty caramel malt sweetness with some burnt malt, just a touch of diacetyl, and a hint of alcohol. Medium body. A nice combination/balance of flavors. Makes for a drinkable brew. Not the best dopplebock I’ve had, but a good one, and deffinitely something I’d get again (esp at 2.49$ per bomber). Definitely a brewer I’ll be buying more from in the near future.

(22 oz. bottle) Pours a ruby-tinted brown with a small biege head. Aroma is malt and brown sugar. Some lacing. Mouthfeel a little fizzy, a little thin, still pretty smooth. Tastes of malty sweetness with some brown sugar and alcohol, fairly bitter finish. Plenty of alcohol here. Overall not bad, mostly suffers from lack of complexity for a doppel. This brewery was closed and re-started in the last couple of years, so has a new owner (and maybe new brewer). Don’t know if there have been any changes to the beers they make.

Wow this guy (ericmoss3799) is adamant that this brewery is a well-kept secret. It looks like it was a much higher quality brewery in days past. 2005 bomber shared with Muzzlehatch on 5/22/2005 at the "Crappy Maine beers plus two random Belgians and a Cider" Tasting. Orange-amber with some gold highlights. No head, no lacing, clear, filtered. Smells of tobacco, old, stale coffee grinds, some caramel and cabbage. Has that typical filtered, American hardness about it. Some light malt grains, a bit of grassiness, musty attic flavors, rope. Watery, no yeast apparency. Would not identify this as a bock, let alone a doppelbock.

22 oz bottle shared with the Master of Disaster, ClarkVV at his parents’ palatial chalet in Belfast Maine. Looks much like their brown ale, walnut and clear with maybe a little red...old coffee and dried, somewhat past due veggies in the nose, DMS I think...sweet, sweet body of brown sugar and caramel mixes very uneasily with the surprisingly strong grassy hops...spoiled milk and other off qualities towards the finish, cottony and unpleasant. I’ve had a lot of bad doppelbocks, and this takes a not-so-proud place among them.

Poured to a deep orange/red color, thin head, with floral notes dominating the aroma. This beer lacked the full bodied malt sweetness expected in a doppelbock, and the hop flavor dominated all the way through, though it was not at all overpowering. Were this labelled as a Brown Ale, it would earn a higher rating.