Dopplebock's - Where is the love?

As far as I know, Bajuvator is still made. I also love it

 

I picked up a few bottles and cracked one open a week ago. I thought this was a tasty beer. I do like BA RIS but this beer was a good change of pace as it wasn't as heavy as a stout and still had good flavors.

 

DB's are a great style and I agree, they are lacking in production by American craft brewers. Great Divide Wolfgang and Great Lakes DoppleRock are excellent examples of American DBs and should be sought after by fans of this style.

 

Ditto.

The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery here in Charlotte produces a couple good doppelbocks.

 

Picked some up today. They only had Autumnal Fire at my local shop. Pretty tasty. I'll be looking for the others at the Kenosha Woodmans. Any opinion on the Manoomator Rice (which they did have also....but I shied away from the rice)

 

Drinking one now. Mighty tasty!

 

Doppelbocks are my favorite readily available style (it's not like we can readily get fresh gravity kellerbier in the US).

While the vast majority of US versions aren't all that great, we get almost all of the best German ones. Andechser is the only big dog we don't get, even if it might be the best one.
Celebrator, Korbinian, Asam Bock, Optimator, Doppel-Hirsch, Bajuvator, etc. are all amazing beers that are pretty common.
For American ones, I've been pretty happy with GD's Wolfgang. Uff Da used to be unbelievable, but I don't think it's brewed any longer. While not my favorite or anything, Tommyknocker Butthead is pretty common, affordable, and in 6-packs.

 

Helping a friend brew a clone of Charkoota Rye tomorrow with homemade cherry wood smoked malt.

(For those who don't know, Charkoota Rye is a smoked rye dopplebock).

 

They're sure to have them when available.

 

I had a heavy seas plank 2 last night. It was really good and I was very impressed with it. Not something I would normally drink before last night, but now I would consider it.

 

Most craft beer palates (mine included) crave hops. Doppelbocks are the antithesis of hoppy. It's simply not a style of beer people go nuts over. I still see a lot of Great Lakes Doppelrock around and its a spring seasonal. I think they'll be replacing it in the bottled lineup with Rye of the Tiger (IPA) next year.

 

Spaten Optimator is less than $2/ea in my area, hard to beat that for a solid beer. I have a few in the fridge right now.

 

I liked it but it is a bit different. Its still a doppel but a slightly lighter body. Not quite as thick and sweet but if you are a bit experimental than worth a try. Cap Square Dark Doppel should be on the shelves. If you like the traditional dop then I would try that one next.

 

I too have some love for doppelbocks!

You can never go wrong with Optimator- it's easy to find and fairly inexpensive. Damn good beer, too.

I agree that it would be nice to see more American ones, but good ones from American breweries still exist. Shiner's 100th anniversary Commemorator was good (most of those beers were much better than the standard Shiner lineup). I had this a couple of years ago, it's Canadian, not American, but excellent if you can find it:
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/11056/50044

Kudos to St. Victorious from Victory as well.

 

S'muttonator is great fresh and amazing with two years on it.

 

That's an awful wide brush you're using there. Maybe "Most BA palates crave hops." would have been better, but I certainly know a lot of craft beer drinkers who love malts too -- and many who love both ranges of beer character (me included).

After all, just look at the majority of responses to this thread.

 

That confirms my thoughts on the rice. Will look for the Dark. Sounds like a winner. Thanks!

 

I think it's the best tasting, too. To me, most doppelbocks tend to be either straight ahead malty/caramely (Salvator) or they have lots of raisin and cocoa character (Celebrator). Only a few have both. The Andechser does and to a much lesser extent Optimator does. I think that helps their drinkability. I love Celebrator, but I don’t think a 1L of it is really in the cards for me. Even when I went to Aying, they were serving it from bottles and in pilsner-like flutes. For the places that serve Salvator year-round in Munich, they also go with halbe mugs and tall glasses. However I can and have downed several full liters of the Andechser…and they happily serve it that way starting at 10AM.

 

The Cap web site calls out that this is available in May, June, and July. There may be some left on shelves, but don't get hopes high. On the other hand, Autumnal Fire is on shelves, bought it Sunday.