The catch up review to end all catch up reviews: Abita Brewing Co. Vanilla Doubledog

A few months back I was out running errands and decided to make a quick drop into Spec’s.  After a quick breeze through I stopped in front of a new little display I hadn’t seen yet.  There must have been about 30 of the same bottles, just sitting on a small wooden shelf, as if they had popped up out of nowhere.  The bottles were the 25^th Anniversary Celebration Vanilla Doubledog by Abita Brewing Co. in Louisiana.  At the time I’d never tried any of their brews, except for their delicious root beer, so I decided to give this one a chance.  As I was leaving, I instinctively paid for the beer in cash, and forgot to use my gift card… didn’t make that mistake twice.

It was a Picard facepalm moment

Abita sometimes gets a bad rep.  I’ve heard a lot of negative comments about their beers, “they’re bland,” or “they’re ok, not that great.” Whenever I heard many people make the same claims, I start to assume they’re true.  When I picked up that bottle though, I thought, “even if their other beers really are bland, surely a limited release anniversary beer won’t be!”

I had this beer maybe 2 months ago, but I still have my review notes so I’ll post this review anyway.  I’m sure someone will appreciate it.  My bottle of Vanilla Doubledog poured a dark chocolate brown color with a faded tan head.  Aroma contained a light hop zest first, a bit of vanilla, and then a strong nose of roasted malt.  The taste was just a bit more complex. The roasted grain made a strong first flavor then made a little room for some spent coffee bean and almond tastes.  In the middle a little of that vanilla bean flavor came through, and on the back end just a tiny hint of hops balanced the malt.  The brew had average carbonation, and equally mid-level body, finished smooth.

From what I remember, and I’ve always been told I have a great memory, I rated Vanilla Doubledog 4 out of 5.  I was pleasantly surprised with this brew, especially with Abita’s mediocre reputation.  This is probably one of those ‘to each his own’ situations, everyone’s tastes are different, popularity comes and goes.  Recently on BeerAdvocate there was a discussion on over-rated brews, to everyone’s surprise Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head chimed in and shut everyone up completely.  Give it a read; it’s a great insight on beer snobs, and should remind you not to be one.

Hmm... quite.