Lavanator Dopplebock
Deschutes Brewery

Lavanator initially tastes like cherry jello jubilee but is otherwise best characterized as being non-distinct. It is the color of cherry cola or dark mahogany wood. The aroma yields a brief flourish of fruitiness but the taste lacks definition. The celebratious complexity of the style is entirely non-emergent. There is no spice, no robust fruit basket of flavor. There’s also no head, no lace and no sustain in any direction. The scratchy mouthfeel fails to improve matters.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why my visit to Deschutes was characterized by the service of such flawed beers. My Lavanator was flaccid and strained. The mouthfeel was medicinal at best. This is simply a problematic beer in every way and the credibility of the brewer is no solace.

I had a glass of this beer at the Deschutes Pub in Bend, Ore. It's a deep amber in color, which is much lighter than other dopplebock's I've had.

The smell is right for the style, though! It's sweet with notes of molasses. Nice.

The taste has all the right flavors for the style: sweet and malty. But it's just too light, which is a bummer consider how awesome this brewery is. The body is like the taste: good, but too light. Overall the drinkability is probably higher than a "true" dopplebock because of the lightness, but overall the beer is a little too weak for me.