Brooklynator
Brooklyn Brewery

 

 

On tap.

Poured a deeper orangish/brown color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of toffee, nuts, with some light chocoloate and roastiness. Tastes of toffee, caramel, light chocolate, and all around malty. Light lacing left on the glass. Alcohol content well hidden.

Notes from: 5/22/08

A deep clear brown. A thin head with light lacing.

Smell is of sweet malt and dark grapes. A faint caramel and roasted grain. Yeast esters.

Big malty front with clean hops from the middle to finish. Tart to sour apple with roasted malt notes mixed in the body.
Alcohol is nowhere to be found. A nice nutty component and a touch of banana as it warms as well.

Good medium mouthfeel with perky carbonation. Drying hops and mild astringency keeps you coming back for more.

Drinkability is excellent. A dopplebock that invites a session. Watch out!!

From tasting notes 4/12/2008

Had this on-tap at Jacob Wirth. Very nice surprise.

It is the darkest brown possible, with only the tiniest bit of head. Impressive color.

Nice rich aroma with coffee, coconut and vanilla. Smells dark and enchanted.

Brilliant smooth taste with hints of rye, chocolate and liquorice.

In the mouth, it feels thick and oily. Some interesting texture to this black beer.

Despite the thick mouthfeel, this is highly drinkable for a high alcohol % beer. I found myself drinking half of it in a two gulps.

Excellent stuff from Brooklyn ... I like when they get bold.

Poured a deep orange/amber with a cream colored, two-finger head. Laces well and displayed good retention. Aromas are strongly sweet, bready malts, like a fortified wine. Flavors are rich and quite sweet as well, roasted malts, caramel, herbaceous hops, molasses. Medium bodied and lightly carbonated. Bold and on point for the style. Really quite impressive, albeit potent and not one I'd have a pair of. Compare to Ayinger's Celebrator.

From notes. On tap at Capones...
Appears a dark, amber toned dark chestnut nearing black with a small, off white head that never really fades away. Scattered lacing is left around the glass.
Smell is of malty, sourdough, cocoa, toffee, spicy black pepper, anise, vanilla, and cream.
Taste echoes the aromas with a slight dropoff from the wonderful aromas. The balance of toffee, caramel, spices, and malt make for a well done bock.
Mouthfeel is medium-full bodied, smooth, malty with cocoa, and caramel lingering. Seemingly perfect levels of CO2 in this doppelbock. Well done!

Another review from notes. Was tapped in my basement in mid-spring. Poured a dark reddish-brown into my 16 oz Brooklyn Brewery glass. Tan head with a tight foamy head. Layer of bubbles leaves some nice lacing. Smell and taste of sweet bready malts upfront. The noble hops provide a nice balance so the beer is not too sweet. Slight smokiness on the backend. Crisp and clean like a lager should be. Medium-bodied that leaves a little warmth in the belly. Easy drinking for an 8% beer.

On tap at Tyler's Taproom in Durham,poured into a snifter a deep dark brown with a thinner almost creamy beige head,lighter aromas than expected mainly chocolate malt,caramel, and a bit of dough.Great creamy mouthfeel just as smooth as all get out,flavors are bready and mildly sweet the alcohol is kept well in check just lending a sweet zip.Somewhat chocolaty with some caramel sweetness with a faint phenolic yeasty note in the finish.A solid doppelbock with a a very smooth feel.

On tap at Tylers Durham. Served in Brooklyn snifter.

Pours dark brown with slight ruby tinge. Swirling lace. Nice classic barvarian yeast aroma. Pumpernickle bread, toffee, and hints of green apple. Upfront flavors of bread crust and doughy malts, lead to a pear and green apple sweetness. Finishes with an assertive crisp hop finish. Not as sweet and full bodied as most doppelbocks that I've had, body seemed a slight bit thin for style. The assertive hops (? American spin), really keep the malt sweetness in check with this. Just some light fruity malt sweetness lingers. Goes down effortlessly. This Strays a little from style but I really like what Brooklyn did here.

If you see this on at your local tap, definatly give this a whirl.

The beer pours a dark brown color with a thick frothy tan head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is good. It has a nice burnt toffee and roasted malt scent along with a dry lager yeast element. The taste is good as well. It has a very tastey burnt toffee flavor that goes down smooth and finishes a bit on the sweet side. The malt character is right on the money. The mouthfeel is fine. It is a full bodied beer with adequate carbonation. This is a good drinking beer. I like the malt palate and the aroma. It's right on target and easily drinkable.

a: an attractive deep brown in color with a nice tan head that shows light retention

s: sweet toffee malts with a range of dark and smoky fruits, notes of molasses and sweet grain, just a touch of sour, some clove/banana, quite good, lightly hopped

m: delicate medium carbonation with a full body

t: hit first with toasty sweet toffee and dark tree fruits, notes of dates and raisin abound, interesting smoky notes, dark cherry, milk chocolate, just a fine tasting beer, lingering fruit and grain flavors in the finish, light-moderate bitterness cleans up

d: easy enough, but certainly a limited drinker

20 oz. glass at Raleigh Times, beer really impressed with the Brooklyn specialties lately

Had on tap while in Tampa FL. Poured medium dark brown, with thin head that did not last very long. Aroma seemed very muted (though maybe the beer had been served to cool for it to emerge?) and was more malts, caramel and hints of spice and sweetness. The taste had an initial similarity to the stronger German Dopplebocks that it is emulating, though was sweeter than expected - with hints of spice and caramel. The Brooklyn website says this is 7.5% alc, and I felt this was apparent. More malty, and sweet overall with little hint of bitterness from any hops. I enjoyed one pint of this, but not sure I would want anymore at the same session, one pint is enough. A good beer, though maybe a shade too sweet for my taste and in this style of beer, so rated it down in drinkability, and at this strength, certainly no session beer!

JohnW (while in Tampa FL) May 2008
B'ham UK

I finally got the chance to try Brooklynator. It was on-tap at Mesquito Grill on 5/24/2008. They served it to me in a standard Brooklyn pint glass.

This Doppelbock poured a nice looking dark mahogany brown that had a few dark ruby red highlights around the edges. The head of foam was an off white color and was small and somehwhat thin. Whatever was there had decent retention that left behind some off white colored rings and only a spot or two of lace around the glass. What was lacking in the head of foam, the color of the beer made up for it.

The aroma to this Doppelbock was too sweet and heavy on the molasses. Behind the molasses was another sweet aroma, the caramel. The aroma was just racking up the sweet aromas until the dark fruits came along. After the dark fruits, that was it for the aroma. I was hoping to find some roasted malts after the dark fruits, but the aroma called it quits. If there were any other dark aromas in here, the heavy sweetness covered them all up.

The taste was not one flavor after another, it was more like just one big burst of flavor. This one big burst of flavor contained caramel, molasses, a hint of roasted malt (finally the roasted malt comes into play and it's just a hint of it), a small touch of dark chocolate, alcohol, and ended with a small speck of bitter hops. It was hard to tell what kind of hops because the hop note was too small, as well as the roasted notes. To me, there was alot of good dark roasted flavors missing or were too small in the taste. For example, the malt. For me, that should have came in earlier, but it was bogged down by all the sweet flavors.

The mouthfeel was in the medium bodied range, but the aftertaste to it wasn't all that good. The aftertaste was lightly sweet with a hint of dark fruits, a small bite of alcohol, and a slight touch of roasted malts at the end. The flavors of the aftertaste won't last long in your mouth, but the overall sweetness of the aftertaste will. I know, it's confusing.

Overall, it's just a decent Doppelbock. It relied too much on the sweetness than the roasted aspect. It would have been a great Doppelbock if they would have lowered the sweetness and greatly increased the roasted maltyness of it. For me, one of these is enough. Is it worth a try? Of course it is because it's not everyday you see a Brooklyn Reserve series.

A- A dark brown color of a beer. There's not any head out of the growler, despite being quite foamy inside- somewhat dissapointing.

S- A bit corny, and a bit husky, and a bit sweet.

T- Majorly corny. A bit of earthy hops. A bit of straw. I wish there was much more hops to this beer.

M- A level of carbonation I could appreciate. Smooth yet easy enough on the palate.

D- I liked it well enough, but I could definatly use more complexity in the malt flavor, and possibly more hops.

On tap at the Great Lost Bear, Portland, ME

Pours dark brown with bright red highlights when held to the light. A one-finger off-white head fades quickly. No lacing whatsoever.

Smell is dark malts and red fruits mostly: dark bread, toffee, raisins, figs. There's also some dried apricot and light floral hops.

Taste is sweet dark fruits (cherries and plums) and dried fruit (apricots and raisins) on top of a solid malt background. Finishes dry on a slight sour note with a moderate bitterness.

Medium-bodied and well carbonated.

Nothing exceptional, but an enjoyable beer nonetheless.

At the Brewery and it was Reddish-amber brown with a decent sized foamy head that laced well. The aroma was of malts,grains,dark fruits and a hint of chocolate.
The taste was of raisins,fruits,chocolate and roasted malts. The overall feel is medium carbonation that is well balanced. This beer is slightly heavy,creamy and filling. Good sipping brew. Warms up well and the alcohol is subtle.

Notes: Ordered this as my next to last beer and ended it up letting it sit as my last beer of the night because it was so filling. Not that it was too heavy,just that it was not light. After all,this a Double bock.
A good brew with great balance and perfect ABV(7.5).

I got a bottle of the tap brew in a trade with nutbrown. Thanks Alan!

It pours a clear amber brown and, while pouring, I didn't see any foam at all but when I put my glass down, there was about a half inch head of foam. It has some lacing here as well. Nice loking brew in my glass..

The smell is of malt with notes of bread, toffee, a bit of chocolate, and a touch of spice. Hmmm....I poured it straight from the fridge so I'm going to let it warm up a bit before I go any further.

Ok, first sip and I can taste a nice roasted malt flavour along with some dark fruit like toffee and a touch of black cherry, some chocolate, some banana and some clove. Very nice tasting. It has a medium-light mouthfeel to it and the carbonation is light. It finishes with an earthy malt taste. Again, nice. And the alcohol? It's listed as 7.5%abv on their website but it is well hidden. Another fine brew from Brooklyn Beer!

On tap at Pizza Plant. Smell the malt, see the dark brown. Sweet, carmel,some cinnamon, but mellows. Mocha head, lace. Fresh. Above average carbonation. Easy drinking, some hop at end. Clean crisp finish.A little yeast. Nice beer, but just much on the dessert side.

On tap at Mahar's. 7.5% ABV which I reported to BA.

A: Super deep brown with tannish head. A finger to be exact.

S: Normal bock things going on. Malt, toffee and bready notes. Also got hints of chocolate. Little bit earthy as well.

T: I really enjoyed this beer. The hint of chocolate in the end separated this from other bocks for me. It was not the normal all consuming malt bomb dobbelbocks usually are. The sweetness was very well done and not overpowering. Hints of that bock apple and other assorted fruits were in there as well.

M: The nitro tap made the body so fine on this beer. I thought it was perfect and the carbonation worked well. Just south of creamy.

D: I had two. Really good.