Herkimer Doppelbock

Brewed by Herkimer Pub & Brewery
Style: Doppelbock
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

On draught at the Herkimer brewpub in uptown Minneapolis, MN. Pours a semi-clear brownish amber colored brew with a thin off-white head that quickly dissipates. Aroma of caramel malt, brown sugar, a hint of yeast and some light chocolate. Taste is medium bodied, with flavors of roasted caramel malt, toffee, a hint of brown sugar and some alcohol character. Finish is semi-sweet with some caramel and alcohol aftertaste that quickly disappears. Definitely a winter beer for Minnesota’s frigid Decembers.

The alcohol is well hidden. Very light grain. Some caramel and light lager yeast. Just a little earth character. Dark brown color.

Snifter. 10 ounce, 12, 8? They didn’t tell me... Dark mahogany hue, slim ring of head, soon disappeared. Muted caramel malt aroma, nutty notes, with a trickle of maple. Good...-ish. Sweet and slick in the taste, toasted caramel is king, drying at the end. A bit grainy in the mouthfeel, but over-archingly candy-ish. Well-textured, medium-bodied, tasty, but very mellow for the style. A good doppel, but not very good. Almost smooth, lays languidly on the tongue, imparting flavor, but not sticking hard enough on the palate. Could use more depth, some greater heft in the body...definitely could be chewier, rather than sliding flavor softly on the tongue. But for a middle-of-the-road doppel, thumbs up.

Rich Dark Brown Color with Red Hue..White Ring. Syrapy Rich Dry Malt Aroma. Syrapy Malt...Subtle Rye...Dry Malt Taste...Clean Mouthfeel. Smooth Dry Aftertaste. Alcohol Well Balanced...But Beyond the Alcohol....The Body and Flavor Make This More of a Nice Bock.

Pours deep dark brown with minimal head. Good roasted sweet malty bock flavors. Very drinkable.

Pours a nice dark brown, with plenty of copper and ruby colors when held up to the light, and topped by just under an inch of tan foam. The head leaves a thick ring aroung the edges of the glass, but otherwise reduces to a thin film. Not much lacing. The aroma is quite mild chocolate malt. Flavorful beer, starting out quite heady with sweet chocolate and caramel malt. About midsip, some drier flavors take over - notably a drier semi-sweet chocolate and a lightly toasted raisin bread character. I prefer doppels on the dry side, so the transition was most welcome to me. A hint of lightly spiced hop bitterness comes through in the finish, and blends with a bit of raisin for a pleasantly tart fruity aftertaste. Mellow carbonation, medium body, quite smooth and drinkable

I sampled this at Winterfest 07. This was by far the worst brew I had for the night. Normally I am a fan of doppelbocks, but this one was just plain awful. It tasted like stale cardboard, with an alcoholic burn to go with it. How they call this a doppel I don’t know. I tried the Pilsner and it was actually pretty decent. This, by contrast, was almost undrinkable.