Wagner Valley Sled Dog Trippelbock

Brewed by Wagner Valley Brewing Company
Style: Doppelbock
Lodi, New York USA

A ton of plums and raisins in the aroma. Brown sugar, medium-body. Alcohol well-disguised through the intense fruitiness. I noted a lot of barleywine and port characteristics. Nothing especially amazing or outstanding about it but it was definitely above average.

Crystal clear russet. Creamy tan head subsides to a thick, slightly sticky ring. Soggy plum skins and wax aroma alongside vaguely bready/meaty malts. Remarkably clean alcohol amid soft notes of cinnamon, roasted malt, toffee, and phenols. Soft body. Velvety carbonation. Caramelized sugars firm up the body. Thick, plummy malt overlay tempers the spicy alcohol at the center. Scarce hop presence is muffled by the supple maltiness and caramelized sugars, throughout. Finishes with a soothing blend of creamed malts, spicy alcohol, and candied currants before a plum, olive, rum-soaked fruitcake backslide. Vivacious trail of lightly toasted malts, beet sugar, and tangy cedar. In hindsight, this has gobs of wonderful malt flavors, along with boatloads of sweetness, which never becomes intolerable. Textbook rendition of a suped-up doppelbock. Gracias, jah noth!

Sweet candy and a touch of bubblegum in the nose. Clear brown. No head. Dark fruit flavour, a bit chalky in the long, dry finish. Sweet without cloying. Medium full body and nice mouthfeel. Alcohol rarely apparent although it was listed at 11%. Very enjoyable. On tap at the TapNY festival. Original rating was 28-Apr-04 8-4-8-4-16=4.0. Re-rated from a bottle with asheft, beerbuzzmontreal, martinT, muzzlehatch, Rastacouere and Yowie 16-Jan-05) Flavours noted were largely the same with the addition of some vegetal undertones that significantly reduced my enjoyment of this beer. New score would be 6-2-6-3-11=2.8. Average posted.

TAP NY sample. Listed at 11% there. Syrupy-looking, dark maple, no head worth mentioning. Alcoholic, fruity aroma -- figs and prunes. More barley-wine like to me than anything, though it does have a nice maltiness and caramel. Fruity, smoky, dryly bitter at the finish. Quite nice.

bottle. This might be the best of the Wagner Valley brews. It is a gorgeous red-brown body with a nice tan head that lasts. The nose is deep bready malts, which are repeated in the flavor. the flavor is nicely balanced between malt sweetness, some roasty flavors, and very light hops. the alcohol is well hidden.

bomber - pours a deep ruby color with a generous head that lasts. Aroma of cotton candy. Sweet brew that is complex. Definate malts, alcohol is minimally evident, mostly in the finish. A good brew.

Transparent mahogany. Light brown head thats slowly dissipating. Mild aroma. Some chocolate malty notes, some hints of ethanol as well. Start is sweet, middle is VERY VERY metallic. Finish has some alcohol burn and some bitterness. Get rid of the metallic taste!

Head is initially small, fizzy, light brown, fully diminishing. Body is clear dark orange-brown. Aroma is moderately malty (caramel, toasted bread, nuts, molasses), lightly hoppy (flowers, herbs), with notes of toffee, whiskey, candy/brown sugar, light notes of smoke, cask wood, plum, honey, and overripe banana. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, velvety/syrupy texture, soft carbonation, moderately alcoholic. Embarrassingly underrated, or so it seems to me. Extremely attractive aroma that abounds with malty goodness, with nice background complexities and supportive hops (seemingly all-noble, almost certainly some Hallertauer). Excellent sweet/bitter balance for such a huge beer. This is almost like a cross between a big Scottish ale and a traditional German doppelbock...there are some similarities to each, and the end result is quite a delicious sipping brew. Though I know he'd prefer it was bottle-conditioned, here's one TAR needs to sample ASAP.