Aroma: Sweet, dark malt with mild caramel dominates. Moderate dark fruit (dates and prunes). Mild DMS. Slightly lightstruck. Mild, floral, noble hops. Definite Munich malt character, but only mildly bready. Mild melanoidins. Mild, fruity alcohol. No esters, acetaldehyde, or diacetyl.
Appearance: Deep bronze with ruby highlights. Clear. Poured fizzy, light tan head that did not last, except as light film.
Flavor: Deep, dark malt character with mild, toasty notes. Mild fruitiness seems to come more from dark malt and alcohol than esters. Mild caramel increases in an otherwise clean, slightly bitter and alcoholic finish. Smooth while in the mouth, but finishes a bit hot. Sweet, but not cloying and balanced just toward malt. No hop flavor beyond the aroma. No acetaldehyde, diacetyl, or other off flavors.
Mouthfeel: Moderately-high carbonation is a bit fizzy for the style and inappropriately fluffs up an otherwise full, almost chewy body. Moderate alcohol warmth in mouth and throat during finish. Smooth and clean, with mild astringency in finish, but not particularly dry. Carbonation sting detracts from other aspects of the beer until it fades.
Overall Impression: A very nice beer, but lacks on the decoction character that I enjoy so much in other examples. It also is quite bitter among the widely available doppelbocks. The fluffy carbonation is a bit unfortunate and makes it difficult to enjoy the complexities that are in there, somewhere, as evidenced by the wonderful nose (except for that bit of skunk). Of course, that carbonation lessens with a little time, but I pulled the bottle from the fridge quite some time before opening.
Optimator was the second doppelbock I ever had (Salvator being the first), so it has a spot in my heart and a place in my fridge, but I doubt it ever will rank among my favorites. Still, the bitterness makes for a somewhat refreshing beer, which is unusual for a doppelbock and might be exactly what the Spaten folks wanted. That certain DMS character that identifies all Spaten products is familiar and welcome, and actually makes this a nice Summer doppelbock.
Packaging: I continue to wonder about the friggin’ green bottles. Why do folks keep going with the green bottles? Since this is a dark beer that I grabbed from the back of the shelf, the damage was minimal, but it was there. The double spade is fun.
TL