Spaten Optimator

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

(Bottle). Clean malt toffee aroma. Pours cola brown with off white head. Flavor a pleasing caramel malt, and not too sweet. Not much of a finish. Not outstanding, but a nice beer.

12 ounce bottle as part of a 12-pack set called Best Beers of the World, a name that most of the beers have not lived up to. Pours a viscous-looking dark amber color with no head and a swirl of white on the top. Nose is dark fruits like blackberry. Flavors include more dark fruits, subtle caramel hues from the apparent malts, oak, and molasses. Finishes clean and smooth with no trace of the ABV, although the bottle claims it to be 12%. Medium/full body and low carbonation. If this had more hop character, I could almost think it to be a barleywine. Pretty good; paired well with the bacon-wrapped top sirloin I made for dinner.

Deep ruby/brown pour with a medium foamy head that sticks around a while. Aroma of sweet roasty caramel malt and some sweet fruitiness. Flavor is the same. Loads of roasty malt and hints of medium-dark ripe fruit. A bit of alcohol bite on the finish, but not enough to be distracting. Pretty damn good!

Bottle. Pours a deep hazlenut brown in color with a huge offwhite head. The aroma is a caramely, fruity malt. THe flavor is much of the same with a small alcohol kick. This beer has a full body, huge complexity, very sugary feeling, almost cloying.

Pours smooth tantalizingly sexy brown sugar stream into a glass. Smell is dominated by the malt. Taste follows suit. This is a damn tasty doppelbock. The first sip may seem a little on the sticky and sweet side, but follow up your first one with at least 5 or 6 more...just to let the complexities develop. If you’re a fan of the doppelbock, give this one a go. For the price, you can’t go wrong (unless you get ripped off)

500ml into weizen. Medium malty brown, not much head. Strong malt aroma. Sweet like malt balls. Malty finish. There’s a lot of malt flavor in this one. Noticeable alcohol kick to the maltiness. Like, add it to your milkshake malty. Did I mention the malt? It’s ok if you like a lot of malt forwardness, really great if you love it.

7/28/2008: Optimator pours out in a smooth stream of chesnut brown and has a thin khaki head on the surface that doesn’t last long. Sweet, heavily caramelized maltiness dominates the aroma and flavor. The rich maltiness of the flavor has some complexities that include roasted malt, hints of coffee/chocolate, dates, and even a little fig. The sweetness and strength is balanced by just enough Noble bitterness in the finish. This beer has a medium to medium-full body that is smooth and just a touch syrupy on the palate. Overall this is a solid doppelbock. Like many others I agree that Celebrator is a better one, but Optimator is still a worthy contender and always enjoyable.

12 fl.oz. green pop-top bottle (L07981G) from tish. Thank you! Rating #1190 for this beer...

pours a super dark mahogany color with some head. Malty with lots caramel sweetness. and roasty character, it’s no celebrator but its a good doppel