I bought a six pack of Phillips Dr. Funk to watch the Superbowl. To those that know me, watching me buy beer in a @#$#@ing nightmare. The average person takes 3 minutes to buy beer at Cook Street CBAW. I was in there for 20 minutes! After much debate I decided to go local and buy some Phillips. My first impression was that this beer tasted metallic, overly roasted bitter and too much like cream corn. Perhaps I was being a little harsh so I decided to do a head to head with a known Bavarian/Munich Dark Lager. It doesn't end well.

Dr Funk Dunkel =4/10
Ratebeer 3.3/5 3 ratings
Beer Advocate C+

The nose on this one was slightly vegetally with roasted nuts, baseball mitt and whole grain toast. The mouthfeel was a little thin but do-able. Up front there is a pronounced metallic bitterness that I couldn't place. Once that left, a good wash of roasted malts took over: faint chocolate, toast and almonds. Aftertaste was clean with only a slight astringent snap of roast nuts remaining. Perhaps I was a little harsh on my first assessment, this was not too bad. As it warmed up the roasted vegetables got more pronounced.

Taste +2
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5%
Value 0
Appearance +1 (everyone likes a potential copyright infringement lawsuit).


Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel =7/10
Ratebeer 3.58 95th percentile
Beer Advocate B+

The nose was fainter, no vegetal, with whole wheat toast and weak coffee. There is a difference between whole wheat and whole grain toast; I can't believe I just said that. While lighter in colour it was smoother in taste. No bitterness up front, just a creamy wash of caramel, toasted almonds, cold coffee and cheap dry chocolate. Very smooth and creamy; truly a pleasure to drink. Little residual flavours, only an enjoyable warmth of caramel. The flavours changed little as the brew warmed up, maybe a little more roasted coffee. BTW if you spell this beer in Scrabble you instantly win.

Taste +4
Aftertaste +1
Alcohol Content 0 5%
Value +1
Appearance +1 (the colour of the pour is an amazing deep mahogany)

Needless to say I slammed the Funk back and savoured the remaining Ayinger.