Capital Autumnal Fire

Brewed by Capital Brewery
Style: Doppelbock
Middleton, Wisconsin USA

Although a dopplebock, this comes across more like an uber-Marzen. It’s a deep orange color, almost red, with a thick, creamy, off-white head. It’s got a heavy, sweet malt aroma, caramel and fresh bread. The taste is an almost chewy sweet malt with a light roasted flavor beneath it. Some very light hopping comes along with the sweetness in the finish. Very drinkable, dangerously so, because the potent abv is well hidden. This is a dandy.

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Pours a deep copper color with a dense off white head and medium carbonation. Heavy malty aroma similar to a German octoberfest. Sweet malt flavor with hints of toffee and caramel. A lasting sweet flavor is left in your mouth. Very easy to drink, with the alcohol being hidden.

An odd, stale aroma. Sweet maltiness with a slight alcohol twang. Fairly low "warming" quality for something dubbed as fire. Thick and sweet, but not entirely great. A good doppelbock, but not the best from the Capital stable.

12 oz bottle. When drinking this I had no idea of its 8.5%abv. Alcohol is hidden very well behind all the malt. Pours a deep amber, very clear with a nice thin lasting head. Aroma is bready and very malty, lots of munich-like sweetness in the smell. Flavor is also moderately sweet yet not cloying, loaded with malts and finished off with a bit of hops. One of the brewers (Pat?) who gave me this beer said it was kind of a cross between a maerzen and a doppelbock. I can see where the marzen comes in with the lighter red color, and more subdued big bready malts and some chocolate that straight up doppels have. The mouthfeel was in the middle range making this very easy to drink- differentiating it from many doppels which can be almost too thick, sweet, and cloying to drink much of.

GTM. Really bad aroma, macro lagerish. Dark, brownish orange with a large off-white head. Very beautiful beer. Malty flavor. Not sure what the buzz is about. Then again, this was something like beer #25 among the Midwest’s best beers. Something off in the flavor I really didn’t enjoy. If this is Capital’s best brew, I confirm my long time notion that either Capital is simply not that great a brewer or perhaps that their Germanocentrric products don’t hit home with me.

Sampled at the Great Taste of the Midwest, Madison, 8/13/2005. My wife opted for Octokberfest while I sampled Autumnal Fire, and I was surprised how similar they were to one another. This offers a nice dried cranberry and raisin profile, with a good viscosity on the palate. Great malt backbone gives it is caramel and butter notes. My favorite of the series is still the Blonde Doppelbock, but this is probably a close second for me. Having this spend some time on bourbon would make it exceptional.

In the bottle at the 2005 Bad-burek party. reddish amber in color with an off-white head. Rich toasty aroma with a modest amount of hops. Thick palate with a fruity bitter flavor. Good and chewy without being over the top rich. Unusual beer.

A delightfull combonation of a Doppelbock and an Octoberfest. Carefull....it kicks!