Brothers’ Reserve Cherry Oak Doppelbock is a very highly recommended doppel, whose oak and cherry essences are so well integrated into the beer that I wonder why all doppels aren’t this flavorful.

With this beer, Widmer Brothers Brewing Company of Portland, Oregon, has achieved a wonderful balance of malt, oak and cherry. No one flavor overshadows the other and all contribute to a smooth, satisfying beer.

Cherry Oak Doppelbock pours a dark honey-brown with a quick-to-fall tan head. The beer’s aroma is of toffee malt with undertones of cherry and minor notes of oak.

This doppel’s initial flavor is of sweet caramel and toffee malts that show an incredible depth of malt flavor that gains in intensity and richness at mid-tongue.

At mid-tongue, some small but very complimentary notes of oak flavor join in. The oak is so well integrated that you really have to search your taste buds for it, for this is no oak bomb.

However, the star at mid-tongue is the beer’s cherry flavors. However, as with the oak, these flavors are subtle but oh-so-important to the complexity of the beer.

Some dark chocolate malt flavors appear at the back of the throat as well as some piney hop flavors that serve to help balance the beer’s malt.

At 9% alcohol by volume, this doppel has a pleasant alcohol warmth that shows in the beer’s finish. That finish is long and is dominated by deep, flavorful malt accentuated by oak and some light cherry notes.

Summing up this beer’s flavor profile is pretty easy. Sweet-ish malt throughout, cherry forward at mid-tongue and oak forward at the back of the throat. However, be reminded that all flavors integrate wonderfully.

My only criticism of the beer is a very slight metallic note that shows deep in the back of throat.

Brothers’ Reserve Cherry Oak Doppelbock is very highly recommended and was purchased at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD.

-Tim Hynds

Some interesting new beers have landed at Miller Liquor in North Sioux City, SD:

Treblehook, a limited-release barley wine from Redhook Ale Brewery in Woodinville, Washington is now in stock.

Also in is Widmer Brothers Brewing Co.’s Cherry Oak Doppelbock, This beer is the the Portland, Ore., brewery’s “limited release #1.”

As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.

-Tim Hynds

Is it irony that one of the highest alcohol beers in Boulevard Brewing Co.’s Smokestack Series is called Seeyoulator?

Seeyoulator Doppelbock is a big beer and you’ll be reminded of its 8.5% alcohol by volume with every sip you take.

Seeyoulator pours a medium amber with a massive puffy, tan head. Its aroma is of sweet toffee malt with notes of banana, floral hops and alcohol.

This beer’s initial flavor is rich, sweet maltiness with hints of cedar (the beer is aged on cedar), vanilla and dark fruits.

The malt and dark fruit flavors increase at mid-tongue and are joined by a boozy, bourbon-ey sort of alcohol flavor that adds quite a noticeable bit of warmth to the flavor profile.

A piney hopiness appears at the back of the throat and acts to (sort of) balance out this beer’s intense malt sweetness and cedar flavors.

Seeyoulator’s finish is very long and very dry. It is dominated by maltiness, piney hops, cedar and the beer’s everpresent alcohol warmth.

Seeyoulator is full bodied and full flavored. It is recommended with the caveat that some might find its alcohol flavors a bit distracting.

Seeyoulator was purchased at the HyVee Wine and Spirits in South Sioux City, Nebr.

-Tim Hynds

I really like big doppelbocks and Curator delivers. The Benedictines usually do.

Big, malty and sweet, Curator Dunkler Doppelbock, from the Ettaler Klosterbrauerei in Ettal, Germany, flirts on the edge of cloying, but doesn’t fall over cliff.

Curator pours a deep, dark mahogany with an almost non-existent off white head. Sweet malt – reminding of light molasses – is the beer’s dominant aroma.

The aroma forebodes Curator’s flavor, which is all malt all the time.

Sweet malt with notes of molasses and caramel, mixed in with dark fruit flavors coat the tongue.

At mid tongue, flavors of black cherry and raisin come to the fore, with the raisin flavors dominating.

Hops are in there, but don’t play much of a role other than to balance out Curator’s big malt flavors.

Curator’s finish is long, with a continuation of the beer’s big malt flavors. Alcohol flavors in this 9% alcohol by volume doppelbock don’t show, but I’m sure the alcohol acts to cut the brew’s sweetness.

Curator Dunkler Doppelbock was purchased at John’s Grocery in Iowa City, Iowa.

It is highly recommended.

-Tim Hynds

After a month of trying, Spaten Optimator, a doppelbock from Munich, is now in stock at Charlie’s Wine and Spirits in Sioux City.

As always, Sioux Brew encourages you to support all local retailers who are making an effort to stock quality beers.

-Tim Hynds

If you hold the stereotype that all German beers are dark, thick and alcohol-laden, you are probably familiar with bock beer, one of my favorite beers styles. But let’s not think of dark, thick and alcohol-laden as bad things. Instead, let’s think of bocks as artisanal breads that you drink.

A traditional Lenten-time brew, bock beer was “invented” in the mid to late 1300s by the Einbecker Brauhaus in Einbeck, Germany. In fact, the word bock is believed to be a corruption of Einbeck. Bock is also the German word for goat, so most bock beers incorporate images of billy goats as part of the artwork on the label.

Bock gets its reputation as a heavyweight by being a beer style that keys on very deep, very bready malt flavors with touches of sweetness. These flavors give the illusion of a dark beer, when in fact most German bocks are really not much darker than a deep golden brown. (more…)