750 mL corked & caged. The Wine Shop, Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta, GA, USA. 2007 (bottle conditioned) vintage.

Took a long time to remove the cage, and when I finally did, this one had a lot of carbonation.

Poured into the 20 oz pint glass. Plenty of large ivory, bubbly head, but not a huge amount of lace. Very nice reddish brown hue.

Very malty nose with some alcohol; very nice, reminiscent of the best, alcohol ridden doppelbocks.

The initial tastes are quite sweet and with some alcohol taste, but no burn. Very smooth and the fine carbonation gives a silkiness to the mouthfeel. A little rye comes through, but not much. Alcohol continues to threaten, but it’s funny – it’s a “taste” rather than a presence – good stuff.

In summary, a pretty interesting balance of rye character and doppelbock character. An interesting combo that I thought might be difficult to pull off by it worked quite well. Tasty.