Sudwerk Doppel Bock

I really want to love the Sudwerk Brewery in Davis, CA. The German beer hall style brew pub layout along with the spacious outdoor patio are great for big raucous groups of drinkers. The buffalo wings, onion rings, and fries are all excellent. Service is notoriously sub-par, especially when there is anything resembling a crowd present. Like the service, the beer often leaves much to be desired.

German beer styles have never been very interesting to me. Sudwerk doesn't exclusively brew German beers, but they certainly focus their energy in that genre. This hasn't stopped me from enjoying plenty of pints and wings at Sudwerk, but it hasn't stopped me from wishing that I lived somewhere with a better local brewery either.

This six-pack of Suwdwerk's Doppel Bock was purchased at the discount grocery store in Woodland, CA for $7.99. I first tried a bottle of the Doppel Bock at a very socially awkward post-external-advisory-board dinner that I was forced to attend for work. I really liked the beer then, but all booze taste better when they help distract you from the fact that you are struggling to make small talk with someone about the advent of reusable magnetic nametags.

Upon further analysis conducted in the more objective reviewing conditions of the Living Room Fermented Beverage Tasting Laboratories, Sudwerk's Doppel Bock is just as mediocre as most of the brewery's output. The beer is smooth, sweet, and slightly roasty at first. There may be a hint of raisins or prunes or something fruity, but that might just be my palate struggling to make me sound more sophisticated or background interference from the Poore Brothers' Jalapeño chips that I ate earlier. However, the taste quickly evolves first to an overwhelmingly sweet malt followed by a harsh alcohol finish. The beer does weigh in at 8.0% ABV, but I've had too many other high ABV brews that successfully balance and smooth the high alcohol content to let my local brewery off the hook for this finish. It's a good thing for the Sudwerk brewpub that they make such good chicken wings, otherwise I don't think I'd be heading back anytime soon.