A simple brewing company from Bavaria tries to make a classic double bock, a more alcoholic dark beer that focuses on malts more than on hops. It has been brewed in Bavaria since the sixteenth century, so there is a lot of history behind this style of beer. Does Hirschbrau do justice to the tradition of a double bock?
Sight - A very appealing drink, Hirschbrau's double bock lets you know for the start that it means business. The lack of carbonation alters the drinker to the strong malts, instead of hops, used in this beer. A strong head gives off the idea that there is even alcohol in it. With the beer at a 7.2% alcohol level, it most likely does.
Smell - When you pop the cork (yes there is a cork to this beer), the single smell that comes out of the bottle is malts. As with any bock, malt is the key ingredient. But with so much malt in this beer, it seems to lack the smell of malts that other double bocks seem to bolster well. Taste - One sip of beer, as with any other sense, reveals malts. Overpowering malts that do not let any other part of the beer be tasted, except for the large amount of alcohol in it. The beer maintains this taste throughout it. It is a tough beer to drink, switching from sweet in the beginning of the sip, to a bitter after taste. Usually, I would welcome a changing in taste in a beer, but this does not work as well. It is driven purely by the malts, while most taste changes have to do with two different ingredients.
Overall - There are better double bocks on the market that this one, even at a better price than this one. Although there are worse beers than this one, you will still get your money's worth. I would recommended this beer to anyone who has not tried a German double bock, but if you have, there are better beers that this one.
2 out of 5 Cheers!
Spaten Optimator and Paulaner Salvator are two wonderful examples of the style if you haven't tried them.
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