Winter Hopfenlager
Dovetail Brewery

Amber color with a good‑looking, off‑white head sets a clean first impression. The aroma leans firmly toward caramel malt and bright hop notes, giving a resinous lift. The flavor follows through with a hoppy, assertive bitterness supported by a steady malty backbone.

 

 

1/17/26 (Home) (Chicago, Illinois) - Can Notes: 16 oz canned 11/13/25 purchased 12/10/25 at store temperature for $3.98 including tax. Refrigerated until opening tonight. 5.1% ABV Winter Hopfenlager. Traditional methods, modern hops. Balanced, bold, surprising. Centennial, Cascade, Chinook. Brewed and canned by Dovetail Brewery, 1800 W. Belle Plaine, Chicago, Illinois.

Appearance: Poured about 80% of the can into a half liter Willi Becher Glass, yielding a generous creamy tan white head over an unfiltered brown bronze biscuit base. Clumpy soapy lacing remains after head subsides. 3.75

Aroma: Caramel, bread pudding, pine hops. Smells wonderful, medium plus strength. 4.5

Taste: More lager here, with the biscuit and caramel front and center, backed by a dry pine. Enjoying as expected. 4.25

Mouthfeel: Drinks strong for a Dovetail beer, perhaps 6-7% vs. the listed 5.1. Dry, plenty of hops to balance the sweet flavor. Nice caramel bread malt and pine from start to finish. 4.0

Overall: This is the most hoppy beer I can recall from Dovetail. Still a lager, but hopped up, at least as much as Dovetail would care to do so. This would be a good beer to share with an IPA person, or for anyone looking for a great tasting lager with a nice hop presence. 4.25

16oz can, date stamp appears to be 11/10/25 but it’s had to tell
L: slightly hazed amber body is capped with a very frothy beige head
S: bready malt, caramelized grain, earthy & piney hops
T: tastes like an English IPA or even a 1990’s American IPA, especially with its hop bill, which is delicious btw; caramel, bread crust, toasted grain, earthy & pungent pine, zesty & pithy grapefruit
F: fuller body, very resinous yet has a pretty clean finish with some lingering pine on the back end
O: terrific winter IPL!

 

 

Pours a slightly unfiltered copper color with a dense, slightly creamy light tan head that provides ropes of lacing. Beautiful IPL.

The nose features lots of resiny pine and grapefruit aromas, and there’s a bit of spicy herbal hops as well as some caramalt.

The resiny pine and grapefruit are forward on the taste and deliciously bitter, but it’s that spicy herbal hop flavor combined with the caramalt that makes this beer for me.

The mouthfeel is medium and very crisp, a reminder that this is a lager. Dovetail is a world class brewery, and this delightful winter lager is yet another example of their prowess.

I’ve never heard of a Hopfenlager, admittedly. Although it tastes exactly as I would expect. C Hop forward yet subdued in an amber hue and midwestern mannered. Pine forest in a snow globe. Dovetail has yet to disappoint.