Capital Hopplebock

On tap the brewery--this was fun! The waitress serving the beer said that it was way too hoppy for her. My response was, "OK, bring me a glass of that!". Orangey-amber with a smallish white head. Very little lacing. Strong caramel malt in the nose. Good ol’ blonde doppleblock taste up front with lots of toffee and candy-corn. Fairly mild bittering in the follow-up, with a reasonably clean finish. The hops certainly weren’t over the top and in fact, they were pretty subtle. Velvety mouthfeel and moderate carbonation. Quite yummy.

On tap at brewery. This beer pours amber with a nice enough head. Looks identical to the maibock...which looks very much like the blonde dopple. Sweet malt nose, also sweet up front, but finishes with bitterness that few of Capital’s beers have. Very little in the way of hop character or flavor (but more than their other beers, except the pilsner. Since this is an experimental beer, I tried it side by side with the maibock and the blonde. It is third among those two fine beers. I like what Kirby was trying to do, but the hops just do not make it through. Maybe he should try dry-hopping or use a hop back. Not a bad first try (the first tries of Island Wheat weren’t so hot either) so keep it up Kirby...but we all want the dark dopple back!