Smelling the fermented brown sugar aroma that is Double Dead Guy Ale.
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A bottle of Double Dead Guy in the house meant that I also needed to obtain a bottle of Dead Guy for the sake of comparison. So I did.
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Dead Guy Ale, a German Maibock Style Ale by Rogue Ales
12 ounce bottle, served in Pilsner glass.
Dead Guy pours a clear golden-orange with two fingers of ivory head. The head mostly diminishes, with a half finger hanging around for a while. There is almost no lacing.
The aroma is of orange, toasted grains, flowers, and lightly sweaty yeast.
The taste is somewhere between sweet and dry, with a faint malty sweetness that dances about the edges. It opens with a light fizzy bite of toasted malts, almost an unsalted pretzel flavor. The sweatiness on the nose leads into an earthiness on the tongue. It is like the soil of a freshly dug grave, with the grassy roots exposed.
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Double Dead Guy Ale, an American Strong Ale (or what Rogue calls an Imperial Maibock) by Rogue Ales
26 ounce bottle, served in snifter.
The pour of Double Dead Guy is similar to its older sibling, only hazier and with only a thin head.
The aroma is of toasted grains, flowers, an almost fermented brown sugar, and an impression of the essence of orange peel (perhaps even a lingering memory of orange peel). I went and cracked a bottle of Myers Dark Rum and got a stronger, more intense version of the brown sugar present here, so the "almost fermented brown sugar" seems like a correct assessment.
There is still a light bite and fizziness at the open, but it is a muted note—more of an echo of Dead Guy than a statement in its own right. This is followed by an orange peel bitterness riding a warm wave, which I suspect is the higher alcohol content. The finish mellows into toasted malts and unsalted pretzel. This flavor is smoother and mellower and more complex than Dead Guy, as it rightly should be.
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I'm not sure how an ale is considered to be in the style of a Maibock or an Imperial Maibock, since both are lagers. I know that Rogue Ales makes something similar to how Maibocks are brewed but with their "proprietary Pacman ale yeast." Since the difference between lagers and ales is primarily due to where the yeast generally ferments (top for ales; bottom for lagers) and the fermentation temperature (65ºF for ales; 50ºF for lagers), I assume that they can make something similar in construction and attributes to a Maibock with an ale yeast that top-ferments at a warmer temperature.
I'm not complaining, just curious, because whatever Rogue is doing is quite tasty.
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The final assessment is that Dead Guy, while a great ale in its own right, is vastly surpassed by its younger sibling. I would definitely drink both again, but need to find a few bottles of Double Dead Guy to bury in the cellar for a dreary autumn evening.
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