Welcome, friends, to a tale of two breweries! Or, at least, a tale of a beer made by two breweries. Collaboration brews are all the rage and have been for a while. And why not? If a Reese’s Cup is two great tastes that taste great together, surely two breweries can top that? I think so. Hence, I give you Bockslasher Doppelbock, brewed by Creative Creature Brewing in collaboration with Southnorte Beer Company.

This beer is not sold in Georgia as these are two small, fairly new California breweries. I saw it for sale on Craftshack.com. where I have been buying frequently of late. They had me at doppelbock. Creative Creature does not say when they opened, but they do say this:

We are a brand new small-batch craft beer brewery located at 110 North Magnolia Avenue in the heart of El Cajon City in East County San Diego. We Specialize in 100% all grain beer with no extracts or concentrates used.

Southnorte says on their website that they were established in 2016. They also sya this:

We were born at the crossroads of cultures, where the blend of energies, wisdom, and talents equal more than the sum of the parts. We are brewers, makers, and travelers wanting to see where we can take beer. And where it can take us. We explore the best of what each lado brings to the table. We cross borders and brew locally. We craft with an accent. We are SouthNorte. Hecho en San Diego.

So, I was intrigued to try this doppelbock from these two breweries in close proximity one to the other. The beer has an alcohol content of 7.77% by volume (lucky that!) and I paid $4.99 for my pint can. I am not sure what the beer sells for at the brewery.

Creative Creature Bockslasher Doppelbock pours to a hazy orange amber color with a moderate head of foam and a mostly caramel malty nose. Taking a sip, the beer is full and rich in body with luscious caramel malts, and hints of toasty nutty malt, too. Taking a sip, there is more caramel malt here than the toasty nutty melanoidin Munich malts I want, though I get some of those.

Fair warning: doppelbocks are my favorite style, and I judge them against the high German standard. I think this beer needs more of the Munich malt notes, but it is tasty and a welcome malt bomb in these days of endless fruity IPAs and sours. I did enjoy it, though a hint of sourness at the warming end implies a possible canning infection. This was distracting. Overall, I would peg this at about 3 ½ stars for style and hedonistic enjoyment, less a half star for the infection.

All that said, I would buy this again if I had the chance in hopes of getting a better sample. Props, too, for the really cool label.

And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled, Canned

(D)=Draft