Doppelbock
Taps Fish House & Brewery

 

 

 

 

On tap at Field Of Drafts held at The Hanger in Lancaster, CA.

Pours a clear dark orange with a foamy dark khaki head that settles to a partial film on top of the beer. Small streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of toasted malt, caramel, and bread aromas. Taste is much the same with fruit and caramel flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty good beer with some solid aromas and flavors for the style.

 

 

On-tap at Taps Brea

The pour is copper in color with a creamy off-white head. Not too much of an aroma to this one. It’s sweet with caramel and toffee, maybe a little bit of toasted malt. The sweet caramel is a bit creamy, which is nice. Some toasted bread and toffee. Sort of one dimensional, but good.

On-tap at Beachwood BBQ,

A: Pours a dark amber with a full off-white head, solid lace.

S: Brown sugar, sugary fruit, fragrant, a good smell.

T: Lots of dark malt, fruity at points even if this is a lager. Molasses, brown sugar, a straight up flavour, tasty.

M: Smooth, medium/full-bodied, easy drinking.

D: Not overly sugary which is real nice considering that this comes to pass at most brewpubs dopplebocks that I've had. Well made, definitely worth a purchase.

Second growler I have purchased of this in the past two months from Brea, think the cost was around twelve bucks, split with my dad both times, poured into my Aventinus weizen glass on 1/28, reviewed from notes, color is a dark brownish orange, one inch soapy off white head stays around a little bit and leaves some legs on the glass, aroma is filled with sweetness, brown sugar, malt, caramel, and some dark fruits, taste is very similar to the smell but there is also some chocolate in the mix now too, very sweet but not cloying, mouthfeel is sweet and sugary, medium bodied, strong level of carbonation, taste lingers a long time, drank two glasses each time now and could have had more, goes down pretty easy even though it is almost candy-like at times, somehow the drinkability works out, nice seasonal offering from Taps, like how this beer has a big feel without being overpowering, will be drinking again, recommended

Had at TAPS, Brea.

A- a dark brown, but when held up to the light actually clear. Had a nice half finger head when it got to me, not a whole lot of staying power though.

S- SWEET. Lots of sugar type smell here. Don't remember much else.

T- Lots of chocolate, and a big residual sweetness, a sugary sweetness. This is a dessert beer for sure.

M- Not too think or syrupy. Actually really liked the mouthfeel for as sweet of a beer as it was. About medium to medium-heavy.

D- As sweet as this was I was able to drink the entire thing... (~20oz). I quite enjoyed it too, though I feel it needed just the every so slight sharpness to it to cut some of the sweetness. A little more toastiness perhaps.

Had this on tap along side the 04 barleywine. The beer poured a nice dark color with some red/brown showing through when held in front of the light. There was little to no head and no lacing but its a lager.

The aroma was fruity for sure but I couldnt tell if that was the malt or something else. There was a strong sweetness to it and the alcohol smell was only noticeable if you were looking for it. The taste was interesting if nothing else. It had some of the dark sweetness found in your typical doppelbock but there was some strange spice aspect to it. Not sure what to make of it other than it was not quite what I expected from a doppelbock.

The mouthfeel was basically correct for the style, but I couldn't give it a higher rating because its a lager and therefor thin. Moderately drinkable but the strange aspects of the flavor were a bit distracting.

Color was a clear reddish-brown, not as dark as some other doppelbocks I've tried like Celebrator, Optimator and Korbinian. This beer had a modest off-white head and little to no lace.
Smell was quite sweet. Lots of dark fruit, caramel, and hints of candy sugar. No hops aromas or alcohol notes. Taste was a mirror image of the smell. Fruity-sweet and malty with some mild spiciness in the form of cloves and maybe nutmeg. Had a oh-so-slight hops bite in the finish and left a pleasing alcohol warming sensation. The feel was on the light side of medium-bodied, slick, and smooth.
Overall, a pretty decent attempt at a Doppelbock. The %ABV (7.6%, a change has been reported) is well concealed and it was pretty easy-drinking.