Review 117
12/12/12
Weihenstephaner Korbinian: 7.4% abv
Here we go. We wanted to bring back the dopplebock beers for another go. The first dopplebock we tried had us so confused with life, it was hard to move forward (Charkoota Rye). As a reminder, a dopplebock is a heavier lager, generally darker in color. So let’s give this type of beer a better shot.
On the nose, this one has dark, sweet notes like chocolate fudge, caramel, molasses, nutmeg, coffee, vanilla, roasted malt, cream, toffee and even oak. Besides this, you can find fruitiness and spiciness in blackberries, apple, red grape, and some cloves. The nose is complex and starts off with a musty sort of barnyard hay smell, which is unique, but not horribly off-putting. The arrival of the beer isn’t big, but it has sweet notes of molasses, and caramel, with the addition of some oak, coffee and even tart citrus.
The body contains a lot of woody notes, butterscotch, caramel, dry spices, apple and a mild coffee. This isn’t coffee like you’ll find in a stout, mind you. It is much milder, less rich, and more grainy of a flavor than what is found in a stout. The finish contains just said graininess, with dry malt, wheat and then continues with blueberry, chocolate, and coffee beans.
Now, this may seem like a short list of tasting notes, and that’s because it is. Don’t be deterred though, friends. This beer is a lighter style to the heavier, more complex stout and IPAs in the world of beers. What this beer accomplishes, then, is the ability to have a light mouth-feel, lighter drinking experience while still offering the user a range of prominent flavors. For this, we recognize what a dopplebock is supposed to be. German beers generally don’t take the heavy, dark flavors that American beers do, so this makes it much more tolerable than for beginners or drinkers who want a lighter style beer. For that, we like this dopplebock. It doesn’t scare us as much as Charkoota.
Score: 9.0/10
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