The Session # 11 - Doppelbock,

Its the first Friday of the month so that means its time for the Session. The Session is a monthly virtual beer tasting, hosted by a different beer blogger every month, each session with a different theme. This month's host is Wilson over at Brewvana, and the theme this month is Illuminator: Doppelbock.
Before getting into the beer I chose for my tasting let's look at what a Doppelbock is. While the birth of Bock beer can most likely be traced to the German town of Einbeck, Doppelbocks originated in Munich, Germany. Bock as a whole are traditionally strong and malty, smooth with toasty and caramel flavors, usually weighing in at 6 to 7 percent abv. Doppelbock's originated from the monk's that were in Munich (which in German means place of the monnks). They were Lenten beers, made to be bigger to help get the monk's through their fasting. The first doppelbock released to the public in 1780, its name was Salvator (meaning Savior). This began the tradition of Doppelbock beers having names that ended in -ator. From a style Doppelbock's are stronger that 7% with a lot of smooth malt flavor, and dark colored.
Now on to the beer I chose. Since no Texas Brewer makes a doppelbock I knew I was going to have to search around for something unique (i.e. not Salvator or even Celebrator). Luckily I was heading to Denver for Christmas and when I went to Flying Dog recently I found the beer I would use: Flying Dog's Wild Dog Collaborator. This is a complex beer before even opening it. Last year Flying Dog started what they called an Open Source Beer Project. The goal of this project was to post a recipe to a beer (in this case a Doppelbock) on line. Then over the course of a few months allow anyone to change and tweak the recipe. Changing malts, hops, specific gravity, how much of those ingredients, etc. The original post with a full explanation is here. The final beer ended up looking like this:
Alc: 8.3%
IBU: 24
Malts: Munich “Type I” 2240 75, Munich “Type II 550 19, Cara-Munich 55 2, Cara-Amber 55 2, Melanoidin 55 2 .
Hops: Warrior, Mt. Hood.
Now on to the Beer: The beer pours a nice amber with a thick head. Malt and caramel even some floral hops on the nose. The mouth is malty, caramel balanced with some pinyness, a little bitter, even something that I equated to cherries on the palate. This is a very smooth very drinkable beer. It hides it's alcohol well. Its not so rich that you couldn't drink the whole bottle in one sittiing. It's a well made drinkable Doppelbock. I give this one a strong B.

Now head over to Brewvana for more Doppelbock posts.