Samuel Adams Imperial Series Review - Double Bock & Imperial White

The Samuel Adams Imperial Series was released some time ago and recently I found two of the three at my local Publix supermarket - the Double Bock and the Imperial White. Ironically, the one I actually wanted, the Imperial Stout, was and still is, nowhere to be found. But, being the hardcore Sam Adams fan that I am, I decided to try them anyway. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have waited for the stout.

These beers are a special run of high alcohol beers sold only in four-packs. They average about 10% abv and are found for about $9 and some change. The first one I picked up was the Double Bock.

Done in the style of a German Doppelbock, which already has a high abv, this is a 9.5% abv brew that pours a reddish brown mahogany color and gives a good pinky finger of head.

It smells like caramel. Sweet caramel malt. A lot of it. And it tastes like malt, alcohol and hops, in that order. Thick, sweet malt upfront followed by alcohol and finishing with alcohol and vague hops.

This beer does not hide its high abv well at all, although, it does go down smooth. It still has the lager crispness but it is somewhat thick and almost stoutish, without the roasted malt coffee flavors.

It is a very straight forward brew, well made but too sweet and malty for my taste. I am not a huge fan of doppelbocks but I'm sure the malt lovers out there can appreciate this one. It's not for me but it's not crap either. A fair example of the style and a Glass 1/2 FULL.

click the picture to read the box

Now we move on to the Imperial White, a 10.3% abv brew that is supposed to be a 'roided up whitbier (wheat beer).

It pours a cloudy, diry, golden color and gives about a half inch of head. As soon as I smelled it I asked myself, 'This is a whitbier?'

It smells of caramel malt with a touch of alcohol and maybe a vague hint of orange somewhere behind the maltyness. It's very sweet and it reminds me more of the Double Bock than of any wheat beer. How a wheat beer gets this malty and sweet is beyond me.

Tastewise, we have malt and alcohol with very faint underlying citrus. Forgive me for being repetitive but if this is supposed to be a whitbier then what is all this caramel malt doing here?

This is a very sweet and puzzling brew. You can really taste and feel the high alcohol content. It is also thick, syrupy and unappealing. I didn't really enjoy the Double Bock but I'm not really a fan of the style and that's not the beer's fault. The problem here is that I really like wheat beers and this one was a complete disappointment. This is nothing lke a wheat beer at all. I'm sorry, Mr. Koch but you have really let me down on this one. This is a Glass EMPTY beer and a misleading, mislabeled mistake from the folks at Samuel Adams.

Try it at your own risk for this beer is not what it claims to be.

click the picture to read the box