Stoudts Smooth Hoperator

Pours a dark amber color with red hues and a nice sized off-white head. Not much retention, disappears after a few seconds. Has a caramel and grapefruit hop aroma. A little bit of floral as well. Extremely well-balanced flavor. A tea-like citrus bitter with a deep brown sugar malt backbone. Has a medium body and finishes with a nice bitterness on the tongue.

As a self proclaimed hop hater, I’ve been really enjoying some of these hoppier brews lately. This one is fantastic. Pours a simple amber with a thin beige head. The smell is full of grapefruits and peaches, with brown sugar and bready notes. Super clean in the mouth, with a really fantastic balance of bright hoppiness, lager cleanliness, and smooth malt body. Brown sugar and nutty malt flavors combine flawlessly with spicy, peppery, grapefruit hop notes and a great, long lasting crisp bitter finish. I like it for sure. I’d call it a Hoppelbock.

Look - Dark amber, maroonish, very nice head. Smell - Piny/fruity smell, bitter, but not overly bitter. Taste - Alcohol is present, very thick, piny, floral taste. Bitterness lingers. Very good hoppy beer!

Only had a small sample on tap at Stoudt’s. HUGE Amarillo nose, could hardly tell the difference from Cascade. lLght colored for a Dopplebock, and not near as malty as it should be, if Ed insists it’s a Dopple. To me, it reminds me of Yuengling’s Chesterfield Ale than a Dopple, but it’s a good beer that made me want more.

Not quite a 4 but very drinkable. Sort an American Indian Amber Ale rather than an American Indian Pale Ale. More sweet caramel-tasting amber / Viennese malts than I would expect from an IPA, more malts in general. But massive hit of American hops certainly works for me, as does the combination with sweetish European malts. Great deep amber to copper body, small off white head, moderate lace. Nose of American hops and sweet malts; obviously sets up expectations accurately for what follows.

Draught tulip at Sunset Grill on 11/17/07
Funny to see this is a heller doppelbock. I drank this thinking it was a strong IPA. Of course, it dosent quite come off as a strong IPA, but, it sure dosent come off as a doppelbock, heller or otherwise. Dark bronze with a medium off-white head that laces lightly. Clear with moderate carbonation.
Quite assertively bitter in the nose, though with some pleasant fruitiness (strawberries, cherries, nectarines) and somewhat unpleasant fruitiness (green apples). Dry malt courses through the nose, showing off graham crackers, whitebread and upon warming, dollops of medium-sweet caramel. Bitterness eventually overcomes any sweetness and leaves dry, rather limp/weak malts in its wake. No flaws or alcohol noted. Medium strength of aroma.
Hard, dry malts up front show light melanoidins and quickly pass in to a bitter, leafy, peppery hop mess. Bitterness and sharp citrus flavors never soften and bits of caramel and toffee seem to clash with the hop notes. I like how FlacoAlto comments on the garlic-like flavor of the summit hops, and I really see that here. Way too much acidity without soft enough malt sugars. Carbonation is moderate, texture is hard. No alcohol or flaws noted.
Not rating this to any particular style.

12oz bottle, low marks for dopplebock... as this tastes like an IPA with a deep dark bracing bitter qualities, nothing too surprising if this was an IPA, smells like Amarillo and tastes like summit hops... just as description allows... not bad.. just off a bit...

Pours with a frothy, somewhat dense, initially fat-two-finger thick, creamy tan colored head. The beer is a brilliantly clear, gold-hued, bright cranberry color. The aroma is nicely hoppy, with notes of herbal pine noticed up front. A closer inspection yields more of the same, but with more intensity. This is citrus infused though with aromas reminiscent of grapefruit, touches of tangerine and some notes of lemon rind. This has a "herbal" note to it that makes me think of hemp seed oil, this note, while somewhat soft, is definitely, distinctly noticeable. There is also a fair amount of malt character here by way of toasty malt notes, soda crackers and a touch of caramel malts.

The hop character is aggressively noticeable from the get go. A bracing bitterness and tons of herbal, rank hop flavors linger on in the finish. A mix of garlic chives, hemp oil, astringent hop leaf and pungent pine sap lingers on in the finish and really clings to the palate. What malt character is noticeable is quite clean and provides a touch of chewy, malty, complex sweetness for all of a half second at the front of each sip before it is subsumed by the dominant hop notes. Touches of softer, fruit-focused hop notes can be noticed at times; flavors of grapefruit and tangerine can be pulled out if you really dig for it.

I was quite surprised to see this listed as a Doppelbock. The hop character is clearly the dominant note here; even to be an American interpretation the malt really needs to play a bigger role here (this is of course my own opinion though as this beer clearly shines as an example that I am wrong). This really does not work for me even on a purely hop driven level as the garlic / herbal hop character of Summit hops is just a bit too dominant to be enjoyable. This is just another beer that proves to me how much I really do not like Summit hops.