Wagner Valley Sled Dog Doppelbock
Sled Dog is a very malty, full-bodied lager brewed with lots of Munich, dark caramel and chocolate malts, and Northern Brewer and Tettnang hops. The flavors start out with caramel and chocolate and finish with just a touch of hops.
Available September-April
Available September-April
3.3
159 reviews
Lodi, United States
Community reviews
Sample at Seneca Lodge Brewfest. 03DE11.
App.: Clear mahogany with an off-white rim.
Aroma: Starts with an unfortunate infected tang, hard to get past this, I want more of the roasted, slightly nutty, fruity,m sweet males that are marred by yuck.
Palate: Medium+ body, full, creamy effervescence.
Flav.: Really fruity, perfumed, rich, sweet brown sugar, esters, oh...there’s the infection, dark dried fruits, brighter fruits, bread crust, rye bread, spicy; sweet with fair bitterness, some tang and a long rich fruity malt finish.
This would be a faithful winter companion if healthy.
Soft caramel maroon color with lightly caramelized cream cover. Caramel aroma with some cat litter graininess and the pleasant unfurling of melanoidins. The abdomen is immediately warmed after the first sip. Viscous mouthfeel and somewhat goeyness on the lips. A bit of syrupyness roughness, but pretty enjoyable. The alcohol strength is palpable, but well enough contained. A solid winter warmer of a doppelbock.
Bottle. Pours slightly hazy, dark copper and red, with a small to medium-sized creamy tan head. Aromas of sweet caramel and roasty malt. The flavor is sweet, with notes of red berry and some mild grassy bitterness. Pretty one-dimensional; below average. [888]
Bottle. Pours clear brown with a thin beige head. Strong aroma with lots of caramel, a bit of grainy malt, and some fruit and cherry. Taste is malty and fairly sweet, with more caramel and fruit. Alcohol is somewhat noticeable on the finish. Very flavorful, but a bit on the sweet side.
Presentation: It was poured from a brown 12oz bottle into a mug. The label has no freshness date or abv%.
Appearance: Looking into the glass I am presented with a deep garnet red brew with good clarity and a tall off white to light tan head. This head slowly fades out leaving some spotty lacing at the top of the glass.
Smell: There is a big rich malty character coming out of the glass. In it I get candy sweet notes like a grape sucker or grape soda. This is backed up with a big bready sweet maltiness
Taste/Palate: The big malty sweetness from the aroma hits the tongue with candy like grape notes inside of a somewhat modest medium to full bodied bready sweetness. In the back ground there are some very subdued hop notes that offer a touch of herbal leafy spice with almost no bitterness. The palate is very smooth and lightly carbonated. Its sweetness sticks on the palate a bit but not in a heavy or to cloying a way.
Notes: It’s not the most complex Doppelbock but there is something about its basic character that I like and find enjoyable to drink.
12 ounce thanks to murphym45. Caramel and sweet. Slightly thin body. Little bit of cherry in the finish.
Draft. Smells of chocolate, nuts and honey. Color is a brownish hue witj no head. Tyasyte is breadyu with carmel, malts and a touch of hops to balance it out. Smooth and abv is hidden well. Perfect for a cold night
Wagner Valley Sled Dog Doppelbock is a very clear, ruby lager that’s topped with a khaki ring that leaves decent lacing. It smells sweet, melanoidal and grainy. It’s full bodied and syrupy with a dry, chewy finish. It tastes slightly sweet and bready. Alcohol is present in the finish. It has a slightly medicinal bitterness. It’s a solid doppelbock.
Bottle from Half Time. Pours a reddish dark amber with a foamy off-white/beige head. Aromas of sweet malt and chocolate. Full bodied with coarsely foamy carbonation. Flavor is toffee/lightly treacle/hint of chocolate. Not a trace of heat. Finish is sweet, but not sickenly so. Good beer for winter evenings.
Bottle. Light Munich and wood in the nose. Surprisingly fruitiness. Beautiful dark copper color that still retains some translucence. Tan head. Taste is fairly sweet with only a low undercurrent of bitterness. Some faint dark roast and coffee, but more about the rich malts, has some chocolate and fruitiness. Medium body is a little flat but with a sort of smoky dryness, and the aftertaste is elegant and smooth. Alcohol very well-hidden, I would have guessed maybe 5%. On the gentler side of Doppelböcke, but extremely pleasant and enjoyable.
Bottle. Pours a deep mahogany without much visible carbonation/head on it. Very impressed - very malty, some caramel and maybe even a little apple/fruitiness in it. Good texture and mouthfeel.
On draft at the brewery. A very mild doppelbock, but with plenty of alcohol punch. Mildly sweet and I’d say - medium bodied. Easy to drink. Good stuff.
Color is a nice reddish brown. Not much head to speak of, thought it remains throughout the glass. Minimal carbonation.
Thick, smoky, syrupy smell. Has a sweetness under the heavy smell of alcohol. Sweet, malty aroma. Almost no hops to speak of.
Dark, bocky flavor. Almost a hint of raisin, warms you right up. Has a bit of a cellar scent to it, but that could be due to the beer’s age, which is unknown. A small bit of sourness; not unwelcome.
Somewhat syrupy. This whole beer just screams thickness. Remains on the palate for a few minutes afterward. Have to sip this one due to it’s thickness. I will now drink "one" for every variation of the word "thick" in this review.
12oz. Bottle: Sweet aroma of medicine, malt, burnt caramel, and yeast. Poured copper/amber in color with a small, dense, off-white head that diminished but lasted throughout as a film on top of the beer. Hazy. Very slightly sparkling. A few small particles throughout. Flavor is heavily sweet. Tastes of malt, burnt caramel, nuts, slight medicine, light dark ripe fruit, and light caramel. Medium to full body. Viscous, coating texture. Average carbonation. Sweet, malt, nut, burnt caramel finish. 8.5%ABV is completely hidden throughout.
Mahogany pour, dissipatign white head. Aroma is Deep caramel malt, sweet candi, fig, raisin, date, booze, Flavor is Bready caramel malt, nice fruiting of date and figs, some molasses as well. Relatively good, I dont understand some of the low rating on this. Not standout, but certainly not offensive or unpleasant.
12 oz bottle. Clear cola with a beige head. Nose is caramel and dates. Smooth and creamy with a slight tang. Taste is toasty caramel, raisin and hay. Finishes with bits of burnt sugar, grass and tobacco. Pretty good.
Pours brown with a tan head. Smells of dark fruit, some chocolate, earthy, peppery. Tastes sweet and caramelly with some dark fruity hints and a peppery splash on the finish.
An amber pour with a light white head and lace. Aroma of light brown sugar. Flavor is a musty like brown sugar as well. Medium bodied but just a tad thin. An above average beer from a style I like.
Tasty caramel nose. Sweet underneath. A little alcohol in the nose too. Pours brown with some whispy foam. Caramel, earth, a little tangy with alcohol in the finish. Dry earthy lingering on palate.
12 oz. thanks, suzygreenberg! pours a clear and very dark brown. sweet caramel nose, with some earth and wet leaves. also maybe a bit of solvent. tangy caramel earth and leaves on the mid palate, gets a little toasty. solventy finish.
Burnt sienna, absolutely no head. It sat there for a few moments and others swear there used to be a head on it, but I don’t believe them. There isn’t even the reminents of head...there are simple no signs that head had ever been present. I also don’t smell anything really...there is an inch of space between the beer and the top of this pint glass but I don’t detect much, maybe a bit of caramel and mushy apples. Hollow maltiness in the flavors showcasing a note of nuts here and there..some caramel...slightly astringent mouthfeel..the maltiness is kind of sloppy and not really defined...crisp greeny balancing hops are adequate...but the malts fall flat so nothing really excites. That being said, there’s certainly nothing offensive here and it was quite drinkable.
Bottle. Pours a clear dark amber with a small tan head. Aroma of vegetal notes, bready malt, toffee. Flavor of bready malt, some cola notes. Wow, this is the same beer as the Amber Lager (maybe a little better? It hardly matters really). Pretty lackluster overall.
6/4/6/3/11 (3.0/5)
Bottle. Strikingly similar (and actually lighter in color) than their Amber Lager I just had/poured down the drain. Sweet, bready malts, soda syrup, and way too much carbonation. Not quite as overpoweringly soda as the Amber, but still quite poor.
I had never heard of this brewer before today. And, I love the dopplebock style. This is NOT a good representation of it. It’s not bad, mind you, just not good. The aroma is fruits, bread, malts, true to the style. As is the appearance, rebuy red, white head. The aroma tended to be on the weak side. The flavor followed the aroma in all ways, including its weakness. The finish had a small bittering from hops, but was otherwise unremarkable, as if I had drank water. Medium mouthfeel, thin for the style.
Bottle. Dark bronze with some cloudiness and medium to small beige head. ARoma is sweet port, red fruit, plum, very pleasant. Flavor is sweet port with some alc, redh fruit, it has aged very nicely. Medium, viscous body wtih medium carbonation. Really nice, aged very well.
Bottle. Pours a mahogany body with a tan head. Sweet caramel malts and hints of berry type esters, sweet with a hint of citrus and a bitter chocolate finish but is quickly dispersed by alcohol latent fruit. Its so so.
Draft at Spuyten Duyvil. Poured a clear ruddy orange color with a thin off white head. Nice aromas of run, raisin, and toffee. Medium bodied and delicately sweet. the flavors followed the aromas. There was also a hint of grape candy that I occasionally find in lagers.
12oz bottle. I worked for Wagner’s for two years. During my 2 years, I spent much time at the fabled "House," where general cacophony occurred nightly. Upon exploring the basement of The House, a few coworkers and myself discovered several bottles of beer, aged nearly 5 years. These bottles, and The House, had belonged to the owner of Wanger’s- legendary Bill Wagner. We drank these beers like little regard for history, and soon regretted it. These beers had aged like a cheap Parisian trollop. 1 of these lethal brews was enough to cause fall-down drunkenness. Nevertheless, we soldiered on...
Pretty good. To style for the most part(if you are into that sort of thing), if a bit too bitter. Not a whole lot of malt complexity but there is a nice molassesey character that plays nicely with the strength of this brew.
bottle poured a dark amber color with a thin off white head leaving a ring on the glass. aroma has sweet dark malt, light chocolate, some odd dark fruit, and light alcohol. mouth feel is thin and the carbonation low. flavor has chocolate, malts, some minerals, and again the strange dark fruits. just seems a little all over the place.