Congratulator Doppelbock
River City Brewing Company

Very good Doppelbock. One of the best i have had.

32oz grunt purchased at the River City taproom for approx. $8. I believe this was unveiled at River City’s anniversary party a week ago. I attended but beat an early retreat (I was a bit beered out from attending an earlier brewery anniversary party – you guys should negotiate for weekends with no competition!) without trying this, at least from what I remember.... According to the brewery this is 8.4% alcohol and has 36 IBUs.

Poured into a Hofbrauhaus 0.5L weizen glass, this was a very dark brown color. It took on a more mahoganyish color when held up to light.

Sweet, malty aroma. I get bits of brown sugar, dark fruit, toffee, a bit of pipe tobacco.

Sweet fruity flavor to start off. There’s a bit of dark fruit bitterness to balance the initial sweetness. Although there’s a sweet aftertaste after the swallow, said swallow does come with a dollup of dryness, which is about the only way I think hops are noticeably present (at 36 IBUs they’re definitely there, but they sure don’t make themselves notable any other way that I can tell!).

Relatively full bodied. Normally, I find River City’s beers tend to have somewhat weak, lighter bodies that the style tends to require, but not in this case. Sticky, coating mouthfeel.

Why doesn’t anyone else locally make a freaking doppelbock? Hey, at least I can get this one, and it’s pretty damn good. Big shout out to River City for brewing this beer, a style I really dig that gets little love from American, let alone eastern Washington brewers. I will totally be drinking more of this.