Local Hero Doppelbock
Big Al Brewing

As a craft brewery that emerged from the aspirations of home brewers, Big Al Brewing has taken it upon themselves to honor the local home brewing community by creating four different "Local Hero" beers annually. These collaborative projects result in the beers of local homebrewers being served and distributed alongside their own house beers.

This winter's winner was a doppelbock that Big Al serves in a stemmed 12-oz. glass at their tasting room. This dark tawny lager is sedate and borderline regal with low CO2 and suds. The sugar and spice of a peppermint stick holds one's attention. But a few fusels emerge in the nose and beer struggles to overcome some latent fusel heat.

Scores an "A" for effort. But my hunch is that the doppelbock style is perhaps a bit too challenging for a four-month old brewery adapting a homebrew recipe for commercial production.