Navigator Dopplebock
Altitude Chophouse & Brewery

This review is based on some notes I took during my trip from Portland Oregon to Baltimore, Md

After driving from Idaho Falls, I was in the mood to explore the beer scene in Laramie, such as it is. The Chophouse looked to have an interesting selection of beers, and they were featuring the Navigator as a seasonal special. That struck me as intriguing, so I ordered a pint.

The beer arrived with very little head, and what there was dissipated almost immediately thereafter. The beer was a medium brown color, and looked a bit flat. I got a bit of sweet malt on the nose, but not much else otherwise. There was literally no noticeable lacing. The beer tasted alright, if a bit dull, flat and unexciting. It was pretty sweet and malty, though not excessively so. Very one dimensional and simple, and I'd guess the abv. to be somewhere in the 6% to 7% range. The beer tasted a bit watery and flat, and was pretty unexciting. If asked, I would have guessed I was drinking a run of the mill American Brown ale, rather then a dopplebock.

This beer was not that impressive, but I have to wonder a bit about it. There was no telling how long the current keg of this stuff had been around, and I'll readily admit it put me in mind of other beers I've sampled that have been on the gas too long, or are near the end of the keg when I got it. In any event, the current review represents what was served to me on an extremely cold winter night in late January 2007.