Our doppelbock bids a fond aufwiedersehen to tradition, charting a flight path into bold new territory. Medium amber in color, it offers a heady, estery banana aroma. Rich maltiness predominates, with cedar aging lending just a hint of spice to the finish.

Aroma: 8/12

Caramel and something that stings my nose like excess carbonation. There is no mistaking the smell of cedar, although it’s sharper than I would expect. The smell reminds me of cedar oil more than cedar wood. I don’t get any of the banana aromas the brewer suggests. Inhaling deeply leaves me with a fairly strong whiff of alcohol alongside of the other aromas.

Appearance: 3/3

Beautiful deep amber-red color. Light tan head dissipates via large bubbles until a thin but dense film covers most of the top of the beer. A quick swirl brings back a nice, thick head.

Flavor: 18/20

Surprising complexity for a German style beer. A nice sweet caramel profile up front quickly transforms into vanilla-cedar with just a suggestion of smoke. Subtle notes of oxidized/dried fruit hide under the surface throughout. It finishes with a bitter note that tastes like it comes as much from cedar as it does from hops. There’s just something not quite pleasant about the way that the bitter flavor sticks around. The suggestion of cedar does reappear after the bitter fades away, which is a nice way to end things and almost makes up for that lingering bitter.

Mouthfeel: 4/5

Smooth with just enough viscosity to coat my tongue and then wash away almost completely clean. Unfortunately, just enough lingers on the back of my tongue to carry the bitter finish a bit further than it should.

Overall: 9/10

This is a good beer but something about the cedar flavor profile pulls it out of balance enough to prevent it from being a great beer. Despite this, it is still an extremely drinkable beer and the cedar flavor adds a fair amount of complexity that makes it stand out quite a bit from other beers of the style.

Would I buy it again? 42/50

Probably not, unless I get curious to compare a future vintage to this tasting. I just can’t get over the sharp bitterness that hits the end. Maybe I’ve just grown too used to hops.

I bought this beer specifically because of the cedar — a flavor I’ve recently become fairly curious about in the context of my own brewing. It delivers the cedar fairly well, and I am curious about how they go about aging this beer, and how changes to that technique would alter the shape and strength of the cedar flavor.