Capital Dark Doppelbock

Formerly brewed at Capital Brewery
Style: Doppelbock
Middleton, Wisconsin USA

December 2005 bottle, consumed December 2005.
Deep, translucent chestnut brown in color with a short, creamy white-to-grey head. Milk chocolate bubble gum leads the aromatic display, along with slight plastic band-aids crossed with chocolate scented scratch n’ sniff stickers. Some caramel contributions and a dry pecan edge in the nose as well. Wonderful milky sweetness oozes in for the flavor portion, equally imparted with caramel, chocolate toffee and honey roasted hazelnuts. Dry crackle at the sides of the tongue mimic the teeth snapping unsalted pecans, and its likely aftermath. Sweet, viscous syrup accents akin to maple vats, imparting a pacified wooden smoothness. Only detraction is a bubblegum current of a failed Bubble Yum chocolate-flavored gum experiment (would that I could blame this character flaw on their bottling operation in Monroe, where a dark shadow is cast on the Wisconsin brewing industry as a whole.) Perfectly succinct and balanced, finishing like buttery Rolos hammered onto Heath bars. Barely skips a beat from last year’s version, and I still love this doppelbock to death.

December 2004 bottle, consumed January 2005.
Excellent beer - definitely one of (if not) the best doppelbocks I’ve ever had. Pours a deep ruby brown. Little to no head with small lacing - one of the lighter doppelbocks I’ve had. It didn’t appear to be as thick as I was expecting when I poured it into the glass, but the taste delivered. Smooth and complex semi-sweet chocolate malt nodes and moderate carbonation. Definitely a rich, whole-mouth experience. Tastes yeasty, almost like a liquid bread made with brown sugar. Traces of oak and roasted nuts. Alcohol is very well hidden and isn’t evident even in the finish. Leaves a nice nutty, malty aftertaste which I can still remember and pine for as I write this review. Fantastic beer.

Slikwily’s reading my mind when he’s sending me Capital beers. They’re great and I’m sure this will be another great brew. Licorice, chocolate, roasty, malty complex flavor. Excellent!!! If there are only 19 ratings for this one including mine, lotta people missing out on awesome beer!!! Can’t say anything bad about this one. Terrific. Big props to Kevin for this hidden gem.

Nicedark black color,small tan head that dissipated quickly and left a very ultra small lacing behind.Malty mildly sweet aroma with a raisin and plum note to it.Malty taste with a big raisin taste and possibly prune,slightly bitter at the end of the taste when the hops come in to play.There is a slightly syrupy feel to this brew as it warms up.I don't know what the ABV.would be for this brew but if it falls in line with the average for the style then i'd have to say they keep it very well hidden.The after taste is that of dried fruit and malt with just a faint hint of hops.This is a fantastic brew and well worth searching out if your a bock fan.

Pours a very deep amber, with a decent but short-lived head. Malt is overwhenlming, with molasses and chocolate flavors, and only moderate hops balance. Very sweet, but drinkable, but with the alcohol content, I wouldn’t consider this a sessions beer. Another fine product from Capital in Middleton.

good off white head, pours dark in color. nutty and fruity aromas. Hints of caramel malt in aroma as well. has a caramel / toffee candy-like taste. Like a Heath bar.

Pours a dark syrupy brown, settles to a darkened rustic peach skin color, recieved a thin tannish head that faded way to fast to a thin ring and very small, minimal amounts of drippy spotty lace. Wiff...Ahhh....Hello...Malts! One major malty nose, quite hefty and full of tangy sweetness, characteristics of a ton of toffee, some dark orangeyness, with plum, raisin and starfruit. Taste is more of the same - highlighting a huge malty sweet tang, very full, bold, lightly chewy, steady even sweet toffee loaded goodness upfront with a slight roastyness to it, then heads right into soft sweet citrus of very dark orange mixing lightly with raisin and plum notes and a bit of molasses. Interesting light hoppyness comes through near the end giving a texture of a earthy bold taste thats short lived and then finishes with a quick little smokey nutty sense thats also short lived and then heads right back to a light tangy grab on the tongue. Quite a complex brew. Nothing out of the ordinary and what I come to expect out of Capital when it comes to the dopplebock. Had to have two bottles cuz its complexity is perplexing; plus its yummy good eh. Feel is pretty full; thick and rich with a hindering smooth creamyness much like a light syrup. One nice brew by the folks at Capital - another balancing act done to perfection.

This turned out to be the ideal beer to rejuvenate my ratings. I think I had been resorting to rating a little too much by style, rather just on a beer’s own merits - and especially when I pick up a beer in one of my favorite styles, I’m going to take notice when it doesn’t completely match up to the standard (in the case of doppels, Celebrator sets the standard for me). But while this may lack some of the huge melanoidiny Munich malts of Celebrator and others, this turns out to be a very nice easy drinking dark lager. There is plenty of toffeeish malt, if restrained and balanced by a semi-dry finish. Very smooth. Attractive deep reddish color. I could drink alot of this, even for its strength.

Beer pours rich looking caramel amber with a fairly retained tan colored head. Aromas are caramel, alcohol, and sweet rich malt. Awesome dppple flavor. This is what I was looking for from Autumnal Fire. Beautiful initial malt sweetness, right in the ballpark with Celebrator. A bit of dryness in the finish is all that keeps this from being almost perfect. More people need to try this. It is delicious.