One New York Life

Wagner Valley Brewing Sled Dog Doppelbock

Brewed By: Wagner Valley Brewing Company
Brewed In: Lodi, NY
Type: Doppelbock
ABV: 8.5%
Awards:

• 2002: Gold Medal – Tap New York “Best Craft Beer in New York State”
• 2005: Silver Medal – Great American Beer Festival German Style Strong Bock

What They Say: A true Bavarian style Doppel (Double) Bock specially brewed with only imported Munich Malts that provide this Bier with intense, yet exceptionally smooth dark caramel and molasses flavors. The huge up front malt character has a wonderfully smooth strong alcohol presence that is balanced by imported Tettnanger Noble hops, making this bier incredibly rich and complex.

Website: Wagner Valley’s website (and for a decent portion of the region’s other wineries) is done by Spider Graphics. The Spider Graphics website looks frighteningly similar to my short-lived and ill-fated web design firm INL Designs. Sadly, the images of mine have been lost in various computer copydowns, but the font, shape, and layout are incredibly similar. What this tells me is my business model — be the “go-to” web design consultant for as many local business websites as possible — probably would have worked. Ah, 2003 — back before this grand NYC experiment began. Regardless, this site is kind of what I’d expect from a small design firm. I’d guess that Spider Graphics has about 10 templates and they use them for every client. This layout, for example, is very early 2000 fantastic (confirmed by the calendar page which has a 2003 copyright mark and a “best viewed in Netscape(!) 7 or Internet Explorer 6(!) or later”. I have no real problem with this website other than it looks a little low-rent. The flashing “Buy Online!” button that creates a new menu is a little cheesy. I’m also generally not a huge fan of blue backgrounds and navigation all over creation. But, good for Spider Graphics. At least now I know if I want to retire to New England and fix up the terrible websites of Maine Bed n’ Breakfasts that the market is viable.

Why I Picked It: PLR and I went to Wagner as part of our trip to the Finger Lakes Wineries. I did the tasting there. Their six-packs were a standard mix-n-match price at the brewery. I’ve never seen this brewery’s products outside Central New York, so I picked five different kinds. This is the beginning of a month-long series looking at Wagner Valley’s beers.

—–

Presentation: The labels on the website are not up to date with the current bottle’s labels. Honestly, I kind of like the old version (Spider Graphics gets them for hosting, too. Well done, gentlemen) a little better. That would have been a 3. The current incarnation is not. 2

Originality: I honestly don’t have much experience with bocks short of the Sam Adams version. I know that the “doppelbock” is a reasonably well-visited concept, but at least not by everyone. 2

Taste: With the description warning me of Munich malts with heavy caramel and molasses notes, I was expecting this to be a sweet explosion. Fortunately, it’s not quite as sweet as the ingredients suggest. As expected, the aftertaste was quite dry and bold, but that’s the style. Really, the sweetness from the caramel and molasses in the initial taste was plenty enough to counteract the bittery dry finish. Overall, a tremendously sweet, tasty beer. 8

Body: The dark-reddish malts color the beer. The beer pours to almost no head. The beer has a surprisingly bold carbonation for the complete and total lack of head. I expected a little more body but it was satisfying nonetheless. It was right on the border between heavy and light without ever committing. This beer could have made the mistake of going a little too syrupy with the big flavors and high alcohol-content and I commend them for preventing that. 7

Efficiency: A big, satisfying flavor at 8.5%. Efficiency perfection is almost tempered by a bold aftertaste and a dry tongue. But, a six-pack of this 8.5% goodness can be yours for $9.99. If you deliver me a high ABV beer for under $10 you have delivered me something that hits all the right notes on the efficiency rating. The only thing possibly more efficient than this is the Trippelbock, but I won’t hold the goodness of one beer against another. 10

Versatility: This beer is really more versatile than it has any right to be. The flavor is tremendous for the ABV and not so strong to scare off a casual drinker. Unfortunately, the sneaky ABV makes this something to be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home and not much else. 7

The Beer Snob Says: You should go to their website and order this. Unless you live in one of the banned states.

36 of 50 – Really good beer.

If you liked this review, check out this and my other reviews on Those Beer Snobs .com.