Doppelbock Grande Cuvée Printemps
Les Trois Mousquetaires

75 cl corked bottle. Served in a balloon glass at Las Buenas Pulgas. Pours a copper colour, small head with short retention. Minimal lacing. Aroma of oranges, belgian yeast, molasses, fruits, bananas. Medium to full body, creamy texture, flat carbonation. Sweet finish. Taste of oranges, chocolate, molasses, dried fruits. Good.

Beautiful color.
Sweetness is a bit distracting

Pours a deep reddish-brown hazy body with just a touch of rapidly dissipating head. On the nose, medium tones of milk chocolate, malt, and vanilla dominate. The taste is evidently quite sweet, which I'm not too keen on, but it does have nice chocolate-malt tones along with a vanilla and dark fruit finish. Pretty nice doppelbock, but for me the sweetness will forever be a turnoff - still nice.

 

 

Not a common style but such a great beer.

Deep brown, rich creaming head, sweet maltiness in the nose and on the tongue. Smooth slightly dry caramel finish is great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creamy tan head, deep amber colour Doughy, yeasty aroma with a hint of berry. Flavour leads with dark dried fruit and finishes with brown sugar sweetness. Excellent

 

From a 750ml bottle corked-and-caged, dated 08/12/15. Served in a tulip.

Pours a deep, translucent burnt-caramel colour with big, soda-like carbonation and a modest one-finger cap of loose, dirty foam. Settles out quickly leaving no lacing.

Smells sharply of yeast, whole-grain bread, orange zest, pipe tobacco and ginger.

Taste is sweet and malty, not sticky-sickly sweet but light and clean sweet, with brandy-soaked raisins and marmalade, pipe tobacco and sweet herbs. Vinous and chewy, with a long, gentle boozy fadeout.

Feel is medium-bodied but mouth coating, sweet without being sticky and with some pleasantly boozy warmth. Carbonation is heavy at the pour but fades out quickly.

Not a style that I have a lot of experience with and I'm asking myself why? A substantial, belly-filling beer, you're not going to be drinking more than a couple glasses of this, not unless you're a German monk with centuries of tradition and an abiding faith in the Lord's sure mercy to see you through and an caring abbot to rub your shoulders while you vomit. Aside from that, I'm just grateful that there isn't anything else I have to do today because I'm going to finish this bottle and probably fall asleep on the sofa.

No bottling date.

A: Dark, dark, dark brown pour. Mid-sized frothy light brown head. Head fades fairly quickly. Almost unbroken walls of lacing left behind however.

S: Strong, sweet raisins right off the bat. Light cherries (almost like cough syrup) and lots of caramel sweetness. Maybe some light hopping?

T: Huh, very fruity up front. Raisins for sure but I get orange marmalade in there too. Light dusting of cocoa and then there's tons of bread dough. Touch of bitterness in the finish with more hints of that cocoa. Aftertaste is more orange and lingering bitter bread crusts.

M: Fairly heavy, smooth.

O: Hell of a Doppelbock. Very sweet and malty and fruity in general. Super smooth flavors, very little bitterness and no harshness at all. One of the finest I've ever had.

750 mL corked and caged bottle picked up at the LCBO a fairly long time ago; dated July 30 2013. Listed at 8.6% and served at cellar temperature. Wanted to pick something memorable for my 1200th review, and I've been hearing effusive praise about this one for years.

Pours a deep, translucent brownish brick-red colour that shimmers with a brilliant crimson red hue when held to the light. Nearly an inch of creamy, light beige-coloured froth covers the surface, managing to hold together for the better part of ten minutes. A dense cap and foamy collar remains in place well into the glass; good lacing. No complaints visually. On the nose I am getting a mixture of raisin, cherry, red licorice and prune; tons of molasses, too, with hints of burnt sugar and toasted biscuit. Noticeably boozy and somewhat herbal, with kind of a nutty, almond/amaretto-like note to it.

A meal in a bottle. Molasses and toffee blend together along with toasted biscuits and bread crust; flavours of almond, prune, fig and raisin just add to the complexity. Notes of rich chocolate, vanilla and rum join in on the back end, with a warming, boozy-sweet finish that is herbal, earthy, and just a little spicy. Warming aftertaste with a lingering hint of black licorice. Full-bodied, with gentle carbonation levels that weakly agitate the palate. The mouthfeel is soft and silky-smooth, with a viscous, almost syrupy-like thickness to it. Positively delicious, and perfectly suitable as a digestif or dessert beer.

Final Grade: 4.47, an impressive A grade. A lot of doppelbocks have that whole "liquid bread for German monks" spiel written on the back label in one form or another. LTM's Grande Cuvée Doppelbock is no exception, but the comparison here is more apt than ever - this is one hell of a rich, thick, luxurious beer. My only issue is that it's really quite sweet - not exactly uncommon for the style, but between the high abv and large serving size, it starts to become a bit much after a while. Sharing the bottle with a friend would certainly remedy that problem. A fantastic doppelbock that I vigourously recommend; I will definitely grab another bottle the next time I spot one.