Maple Bockin' Pastries
Against The Grain Brewery

A 750ml bottle with no bottled on or best before date. Poured into a Holy Mountain tulip glass.

Appearance: A dark brown almost black colour with a nice two finger tanned head that had decent retention, eventually settling to a ring around that glass, but left only sparse lacing.

Aroma: Sweet, chocolate fudge, roasty, coffee, toffee, oak, vanilla, brown sugar, and maple syrup.

Taste: Light to moderate sweetness, doughy, roasty, chocolate, coffee, oak, vanilla, maple syrup, bourbon, lightly boozy.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.

Overall: A really enjoyable Dopplebock. Based on the description and the aroma, I half expected it to be too sweet, but actually the sweetness is balanced with good roasty notes, and flavours that work well together.

Oct-30-2018

Pours a clear reddish brown so deep in gives the appearance of a deep burgundy with nice garnet highlights. The pour produces 1.5 fingers of foamy, short-lived, tan head that leaves little lacing and only a hint of surface cap and collar ring. Aroma is SWEET: maple syrup, chocolate syrup, fudge, toffee, oak-wood vanilla, brown sugar, dark roast and burned malts and booze with hints of Graham cracker, licorice and thin coffee. Taste is rich chocolate fudge made with maple syrup; dark chocolate, wood, caramel, toffee and molasses with hints of licorice, fig, prune, cold coffee, toasted coconut and Graham cracker; semi sweet chocolate dominates the latter half of the sip and the booze kicks in. There is char: a burned quality with a hint of smoke; a bitterness from alcohol and deeply roasted malts appears in the finish to become prominent in the burnt and slightly bitter aftertaste. Deeply malty and complex it is roasty, toasty and very, very nice. Mouthfeel is medium to the low end of heavy bodied with low-moderate carbonation, tongue coating smooth with a light prickle. A nice example of a imperial doppelbock. The malty richness and sweetness are both well represented. The lager yeast doesn't stand out as much as I would like. A nice beer, too bad it's been discontinued.

 

 

750 ml bottle into tulip glass, 2018 vintage. Pours opaque very dark brown color with a 2 finger dense and rocky khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Dense soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, maple syrup, fudge, marshmallow, vanilla, toffee, brown sugar, bourbon, toasted oak, biscuit, nuttiness, and dark/brown bread; with light notes of coffee, licorice, molasses, dark fruit, smoke, tobacco, herbal, and roast/toast/oak earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, maple syrup, and bourbon barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, maple syrup, fudge, marshmallow, vanilla, toffee, brown sugar, bourbon, toasted oak, biscuit, nuttiness, and dark/brown bread; with light notes of coffee, licorice, molasses, dark fruit, smoke, tobacco, herbal, and roast/toast/oak earthiness. Very mild herbal/roast bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, maple syrup, fudge, marshmallow, vanilla, toffee, brown sugar, bourbon, toasted oak, biscuit, nuttiness, dark/brown bread, light coffee/licorice/molasses/smoke, and roast/toast/oak earthiness on the finish for a while. Incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, maple syrup, and bourbon barrel flavors; with a great roasted bitter/sweet and bourbon/oak spiciness balance; with zero cloying flavors after the finish. Very clean on lager flavors, with minimal fruity/yeasty notes. Medium carbonation and very full body; with a very creamy, silky, velvety, and bready malt mouthfeel that is fantastic. Slight slickness, sticky hops, chalky roast, oak tannins, and increasing dryness. Mildly increasing warmth of 10%, with zero barrel booziness lingering after the finish. Overall this is a fantastic barrel aged doppelbock! All around outstanding complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, maple syrup, and bourbon barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to drink for the big ABV, with the mildly bitter/tannic/drying finish. More of a schwarzes Doppelbock, but not overly roasty. Amazing balance of rich dessert malt complexity and maple syrup flavors; with awesome barrel integration. No booze/tannins, and minimal dryness. Not overly sweet for the ABV. A highly enjoyable offering, and spot on style example. They really nailed it.

This is something. Looks good and smells very good. Taste is a mix of chocolate and roasted notes. Feel is very smooth. Overall this was a surprise and worth a try.

 

 

this beer is so intense and weird, but its also fascinating and awesome. i love maple syrup, so this one was a must. i think its crazy that its a lager, thats some badass yeast to even get it this close to fermented out, i mean its sugary still of course, but to cruise through that much maple and get to this abv is pretty impressive! underneath an insane maple syrup nose and taste there is a rather authentic german doppelbock that sort of reminds me of spaten optimator, german and malty and sweet but also earthy and concentrated and long cooked, mature but still sweet, this is a lot like that, even with a german element to the yeast profile when i look for it. its way obscured by intense maple syrup, old oak, and hot whiskey though, lots of bourbon here, some barrel char for balance, and a nice wet compost heap almost ready to reintroduce to the garden. intense flavors here, the maple only being one of them. i get cigar, but not a new one and not one being smoked, one being chewed on all day but never lit by an old fisherman or something, wet and stinky but not smokey, if you can imagine that in liquid form. licorice too, heavy chocolate notes from the malt, and all the sugar i need for about a month. this is crazy stuff, almost too much, but somehow still balanced and refined in its enormity. i thought this was really clever, truly a one of a kind!

 

Dopplebock aged in bourbon barrels. Poured from a growler into a proper bock mug. The pour is very dark and sports about a finger of light brown head. The nose is straight malt, brownies, and a little bit of roast.

Medium-full body with a firm feel and a rich malty flavor. Total malt bomb up front with a touch of roast for balance. At mid-palate, you get some cocoa, vanilla, and a very faint kiss of hops. The roastiness builds a bit in intensity towards the back of the palate, but the malt reigns supreme. There is a nice barrel character throughout, but it is a secondary player and this beer does not taste like a boilermaker.

The growler station said this beer was called Maple Bockin' Pancakes, but maybe it was an error so I'm logging it in under Maple Bockin' Pastries (since that beer was already reported). It's a solid dopplebock done in the traditional style with a little added richness from the barrel-aging.