You’re going to have to pardon me for a moment folks, but I’m going to plagiarize myself. You see, as I sip from a glass of Duck Rabbit Rabbator Doppelbock, my thoughts are almost exactly the same as they were when I drank a glass of Duck Rabbit Marzen. Mainly, what a great beer, and a shame it’s so expensive.

Of course, Rabbator is a doppelbock, and doppels are my favorite style of beer. So that gets it some brownie points, especially since this is uch a great example of the style. But here’s where this beer falls in line with the marzen, begin quote from my own review:

“Economists often talk about a phenomena known as price elasticity. A commodity that maintains its demand relatively well as price increases, for example, is said to have an inelastic demand. It does not change very much. Gas is a good example; people may complain about the price, but they are unwilling to change their driving habits, and generally consume less of other goods to make up the difference they pay for their gas.

Other products may have an elastic demand, especially if there are substitutes available at lower prices. Think of butter. If the price of butter goes up, demand will often go down. Why? It’s easy to substitute margarine at a cheaper price. “

Now, here’s where I insert my thoughts on Duck Rabbit Rabbator:

Duck Rabbit Duck-Rabbator Lager Doppelbock pours to a dark brown color with a light creamy head formation and a soft, nutty malty nose. Taking a sip this beer is very close to the best German doppels, rich with nutty-toasty melanoidins, hints of chocolate, molasses, and sweet sticky dark malt. The 8.5% ABV is very apparent in the warming finish, along with the gentlest suggestion of grassy hops. Finishes slightly sweet.

Indeed, this is a tasty German-style doppelbock, an extremely well made version, and one that I would love to enjoy again. For the reason why, lets hop on back (pun intended) to some more quotes from my Marzen review:

“Except that that’s where the economics come in. At a whopping $12.99 a six-pack, the price here is way out of touch with reality, and renders my demand for the beer quite elastic indeed. Let’s be real here: my demand for craft beer is very inelastic. As prices have increased over the years, my beer consumption and purchases have remained steady. “

And now let’s paraphrase:

My demand for certain brands of beer, however, is quite elastic indeed. Consider I can get a six-pack of Paulaner Salvator or Spaten Optimator and still have $5 in my pocket for a pint at Taco Mac. Then too, in this case, the substitution is not a trade down, since these are two classic German examples of the style.

So while I might have given Duck Rabbit Rabbator 4 ½ stars on its own merits, I’ll have to knock that down to 3 ½ due to the price. Would I re-buy it? Not at $12.99 a six-pack, no. That price is hard for me to fathom, since the average these days is $8.99, and I bought a six-pack of Duck Rabbit Hoppy Bunny American Black Ale for that same $8.99 not so long ago. Granted, lagers are more expensive to make, but not that much more expensive.

Update 6/23/2016: OK, so I lied. When I first reviewed Duck Rabbit Rabbator Doppelbock a few years ago, I rated it as not being a re-buy due to the high price of $12.99 a six-pack. Here in Georgia, the beer still sells for $12.99 a six-pack. That's still high for me, but as beer prices have risen in the past few years, it's at least become less expensive relatively speaking.

Anyway, when I saw Rabbator on tap at Stout's Growlers here in Canton, I snapped up a 64-ounce fill in my groovy Taco Mac Brewniversity growler. At $15.00, this is only a few bucks more than bottles, although of course for about 8 ounces less. But this is draft! And oh is this beer impressive on tap. It's so rich and malty, bursting with toasty nutty melanoidin goodness and for sure one of the better American examples you will find.

So, my price elasticity for Rabbator has just expanded a bit, and I'm upgrading this to a re-buy and adding another half star overall. It would get 4 1/2 if the six-packs were a little less expensive; as is I have to say I'll probably back for more soon.



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