Spaten Optimator

Brewed by Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu (InBev)
Style: Doppelbock
Munich, Germany

Pours a dark red-brown with minimal head. Sweet caramel aroma, can really smell the malt. Flavors are mostly roasted malt, but I tasted nut, coffee, and chocolate. Almost like a laid-back porter. I found the alcohol to be pretty assertive, but necessarily in a bad way. Clean on the palate if a bit watery, with a little sourness at the end. Good balance, an enjoyable beer.

9/24 on draft at DC’s Bar & Grill, Renton, Wa. Aroma bready, super malty, with a slightly sour alcoholic background. Appearance is clear brown with almost no head. Flavor is sweet/sour malt forward with light roast and faint alcohol. Mouthfeel is medium-full bodied with moderate warmth and low roasty bittering. Overall, full flavored and easy drinking for such an alcoholic brew.

bottle. has an aroma of lemon and wheat. pours a golden brown with a thin tan head. has a sweet flavor of dark chocolate and roasted carmel. very good.

Poured into a seidel. Dark clear umber with a nice thick tan head. Good lacing and retention. Aroma is freshly baked bread with a hint of darker fruits. Tastes like carbonated wheat bread. Accents of nuts and caramel, but really none of the chocolate and roasty notes that I expect from a doppelbock. Not quite deep enough. Mouthfeel is rich and creamy, no complaints there. Decent drinkability but this one seems like a beer to pair with something rather than to drink on its own.

Bought by mistake as D-bock’s are not my favorite style. Pours a dark red color with a minimal off-white head. Very malty and caramel aroma. Drier than I thought it would be and detected a little hops in the finish. It is growing on me.

Poured dark reddish brown with a nice two-finger head that dissipated slowly but left very little lace. Sweet fruit aromas - mostly cherries - dominate the nose, but caramel and malts are also clear. Roasted malt flavors come first on the palate, followed by dark fruit sweetness, offset by the slightest of hops bitterness at the end. Lightly carbonated, medium body, and an aftertaste of lingering fruits. Definitely not a session beer for me, but I enjoyed the complexity.

12 oz.bottle. Pours a whitish head, of minimal duration, with heavy lacing, over a clear dark brown body...nose of molasses and heavy malt, some bready tones....tastes of molasses, sweet malts, minimal hop....heavy, thick, chewy mouthfeel, with medium carbonation. finish is sweet.

Bottle. Poured a dark brown color with a three finger tan head, into a stem glass. Aroma of dark fruit and sweet malt. Flavor was decidedly sweet, with caramel and some fruity notes. Slight hop bitterness in the finish. Medium/full body with mild carbonation and a creamy mouthfeel. Good beer. Definately would drink this again.