Cabin Fever Doppelbock
Millstream Brewing Company

Reviewed from tasting notes.
L: Pours brilliant chestnut under a ½” beige foam cap that produces cathedral window lace.
S: Spicy, malty bready nose.
T: Fresh bread crust, dark bread, kettle sugars, spicy, anise, moderately bitter finish.
F: full bodied, medium low carbonation
O: A lovely doppelbock that hits all the right notes.

Nothing in particular to say about this beer. It was very malty. Nothing stood out in it though. I wonder if maybe the bottle was old? Doppelbocks should age well but this one was just okay. It has mostly been miss for me with Millstream. I always try them when I am home visiting my mom in Iowa but I have found not much to rave about.

A-dark red brown color with a decent cream-colored head and little lacing

S-caramel, toasted malt, light chocolate, dark fruit, spice

T-dark fruit, chocolate, toasted malt, spices, toffee, mild bitter finish

F-medium body with moderate carbonation, smooth

O-a solid Doppelbock but a little on the sweet side, almost reminds me a little of a dubbel

 

 

 

 

I am not a bock lover, sometimes liker. I am impressed with this doppelbock though. Looks nice with a good head. The lacing and sustenance is not all that impressive. Yet, the beer is a nice dark brown though.

The smell reminds me very much of a Belgium dubbel style ale. Sweet dark fruity aromas scintillate the air around my senses. Quite powerful. Flavors are pretty similar. I really enjoyed a malty sweet dark fruits flavors. Leaves probably the best after taste that I ever experienced in a beer. This beer goes down pretty smooth too. A fancy remedy for these winter days!

In summary, this was a nice mild surprise. My favorite bock beer that I have tried to date. I highly recommend this product to the horny and non-horny. So what should one pair this fine beverage? Well, I don't think a Big Kahuna Burger would be worthy. No, there are only two good choices. One is the soccer match Bayern Munich v Arsenal of London. 3-1. That's what i did, I loved watching the Gerries beat up on the British this fine date. The other might be late Beethoven string quartets, whichever trips your trigger. Bye ya!

 

 

 

 

Pours out a clear chestnut brown color with a two finger foamy tan head that lasts for about a minute and a half, leaving no lacing behind. Medium body and light carbonation.

Smells of chocolate and biscuit malt, a touch of smokiness and plums for a garnish, tastes mostly of a chocolate-roasted malt combo with a lesser amount of the biscuit than was apparent in the aroma. MIA: fruity esters. I can't find any of them in the flavor at all. And even in the aroma they were rather light and thin. Aside from that problem, this is an unusually chocolate malt-forward doppelbock. So much so, that the other complexities of other kinds of malt get lost in the shuffle somewhat. The ABV is well hidden, however.

Thanks Wade for this IA rarity. Dark brown colored brew, with a glowing mahogany appearance in the light. Decent little cap of tan foam, and good retention. The aroma has a slightly robust malt sweetness, with some faint hop presence to pair.

Nicely balanced flavor. Not too sweet like some of it's kind. The caramel is nice and subtle up front with light roast creeping in at the finish and a touch of chocolate. I like that this beer is only 7.9% ABV, and even with that level you would expect to taste it a bit, but this beer hides it well. Medium body, the carbonation doesn't hold up great on the palate, but it's doable.

Millstream does a fine job of producing lagers, and this is no exception. It's not amazing nor intense, but it is well rounded and could be a fine example for someone looking to try a Dopplebock. I would recommend trying this one.

A - Deep amber color with a smooth, creamy, frothy, off-white head. Pretty good retention leaving a great lacing.

S - Lots of dark fruit (date and raison mostly) along with some slightly tart raspberry/blackberry aroma. That melds in with an herbal tea hop aroma. There is a roasted cocoa and toffee malt backbone but overall it is more fruity than roasty.

T - Dark fruit (a bit more vinous than the nose) is the prominent flavor. Still has a slight, but enjoyable, berry aspect that matches perfectly with the tea like hop flavor (although that is fairly weak). Touches of cocoa, but nothing too roasted or chocolatey. A bit of an earthy finish.

M - Light body with a bit below average carbonation. Fairly slick and oily.

D - Easy to put back doppelbock. Nice dark fruit flavors and alcohol is well hidden. It didn't wow me enough to crave more but it was a satisfying drink. While body was not good, it was not a deterrence.

Notes: Not a bad offering. Some of the Extreme Series have not been good (looking at you DIPA). This one isn't bad, maybe because it was a style in their wheelhouse but I digress. Good doppelbock that is easy to drink, but nothing that will stand out.

 

 

Bottle from John's Grocery in Iowa City, IA
No best by date, but March is notched on the label
Guess it was bottled in March?
Poured into a standard US pint glass

Millstream's Cabin Fever Doppelbock trades the standard European emphasis on layers of malts and fruit esters for a chocolate and roasted malt-forward variant of the style. The outcome is successful: this is a very tasty beer with little ethanol showing through, indicating a solid brewing achievement. That said, I felt that there was perhaps too much chocolate influence in the flavor, and would have liked to see the malts and dried fruit esters shine through more.

Pours a 1.5cm head that is a light tan off-white in color, made up of small, dense bubbles, that gradually fades to a 0.5cm cap atop the beer's body. The lacing left is good, thick washes of foam that are replaced by strange hieroglyphic-like signs of foam with each swirl and sip. Body is a burgundy-amber-brown, transparent, with notable, but thin streams of carbonation.

Aroma is of toasted and caramel malts, generic sweetness, and a bit of roasted malt influence imparting chocolate scents as well. Not a particularly aggressive aroma, and the chocolate intensity throws me for a bit of a loop with a doppelbock.

Surprisingly large roasted malt influence throughout the beer, bringing in more chocolate and old coffee flavor than sweet caramel malt or fruit esters. The caramel malt sweetness is there, it's just subdued in the back, along with the fruit esters. Lingering chocolate and old coffee in the aftertaste. The flavor reminds me of a more chocolate-forward version of Great Lakes' Doppelrock or an amped-up version of the Sam Adams' Chocolate Bock.

Beer is medium-bodied with carbonation that is also at the medium-level; sharp enough to be felt through the body, but soft enough to only foam this slightly on the palate and not cause any sort of tingling on the tongue. Resulting mouthfeel is smooth and somewhat creamy. Only the slightest warming sensation on the palate from the ethanol; this beer hides its 7.9% very well. Finishes dry and a bit sticky from residual sugars.

A - Body is a nice brown and quite transparent. Almost no head forms and what does form fades quickly. No lacing.

S - Lots of rich milk chocolate and caramel. Hints of vanilla. Bits of herbal hop aroma are detectable as well.

T - Sugary sweet up front. Lots of cocoa and caramel in the flavor as well. Nice tanginess through the middle with some bitter cocoa and hop flavor toward the finish.

M - Quite smooth like one would hope a bock to be. Medium body with good carbonation. Some booze and warmth from the alcohol.

Overall - a vast improvement from their anniversary doppelbock they released a couple years ago. Flavors are much more balanced and intense. The aroma is one of the strong points of this beer as well.

I very nearly didn't buy this. Millstream's regular offerings range from solid to great, but overall the brewery is kinda old school. They were one of the first 30 or so craft brewers in the country, mind, and so they're set in their ways. This means that, as good (and underrated, imho) as their staple offerings are, their occasional forays into new-fangled one-offs have been the craft beer world's approximation of watching your grandfather try to rap.

Pours maple syrup Amber with a nice wheat head. Smells... gracious... like an amped-up version of their fabulous marzen. Rounded biscuit, big nodes of milk chocolate, and then little bits of caramel and alcohol. Fantastic.

Flavor starts with caramel biscuits, moving into a middle of chewy chocolate and lightly zippy bock malt, ending on another kick of chocolate, nodes of black tea and brown sugar, and a light alcohol burn. It's hard to maintain so rounded a flavor when the ABV is so high, unfortunately, so it breaks up a little near the end and becomes just a wee bit too intense. It's very good, though.

Here, instead of going after something buzzy (like a single hopped black IPA featuring some bizarre, non-conical hop variety from Borneo), Millstream has built a big beer which plays wonderfully to their strengths. Kudos to them, because this is fabulous.