Dark Horse Perkulator Coffee Dopplebock

Brewed by Dark Horse Brewing Company
Style: Doppelbock
Marshall, Michigan USA

Date: 01/25/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party

Appearance: clear dark ruby red, fine beige head, streaks of drippy lace,
Aroma: dark caramel malt aroma with a touch of sweetness, lots of roasted and coffee comes in to take over the initial sweetness,
Flavor: sweet dark caramel flavor balanced with a smokey coffee character, light earthyness, caramel sweetness fights back for dominance,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.4/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

12oz bottle acquired in trade with hoppymeal (thanks!). Poured a medium and clear brownish color with a red tint and smaller sized off white head. Aromas of coffee, smoke, ashtray, nuts, and caramel. I liked the way the coffee mixed in the aromas (then again, I am a sucker for coffee beers). Tastes of caramel, vanilla cream, lighter coffee, and nutty. I’ll give the apperance and extra point for the cool label.

Bottle… A hard pour produces a clear, dark copper lager with a small, frothy, khaki-colored head. Mocha aroma of cocoa and coffee with a dab of vanilla. Almost full-bodied and very creamy with restrained carbonation. The flavor is all creamy milk chocolate and hearty espresso beans. Medium sweet, moderately bitter and very well-roasted. Solid, mocha finish that leaves a creamy feeling on my palate. In my opinion, this beer is way underrated! A shout goes out to pepsican for shipping this brew to me!

( 12oz bottle ) Pours a lightly hazy deep amber body with a small creamy head. Coffee nose smacks you in the face and talks about your momma with some roasty/nutty background notes. Flavor is aggressively coffee laden with some raisins, earth, caramel, and roastiness rounding it out.

Pours a transparent dark copper ruby with a spotty-lacing off-white head. Aroma of sweet dark caramel malt with some roasted coffee and dark chocolate complexity. Starts fairly full-bodied and caramely sweet with a nice coffee complexity before a drier bready German lager yeasty finish. A pretty nicely balanced and authentic coffee doppelbock.

Pours light brown with a dissipating white head. Smell is dominated by coffee. Tastes of chocolate, coffee, some caramel, dark fruit, lots of spice. Mouthfeel is full bodied with a finish that is roasty. This was a nice experiment even if the nose of the coffee overwhelmed everything else.

12oz bottle from miketd. Dark burgundy brown color. Nose of bready barley, faint scotch, and some ashy, green, mild coffee. Flavor is more centered on the green, plant-like coffee, still ashy and dry, tasting powdery and thin. Body is light, taste is on the sweet side, and the coffee clashes with the doppelbock about as much as I can imagine two things clashing. Coffee really needs some roast in order to work, and needs some thickness to the body as well, and both of those things this beer lacks.

The bottle has one of the sharpest labels I’ve seen (the demonic version), which also happens to have been executed by RateBeerian frankenkitty - skilled artist, fellow member of The LoSBD, and friend.
The beer from the bottle (pictured on the beer’s page, I might add) pours a slightly hazed chestnut body capped by a tall tan head that soon dwindles to less than a finger in height. The aroma is all about fresh coffee - not bad, but I’d like smell the malts a bit. They come out in the flavor, lightly roasted, chocolatey (bittersweet), and complemented by a dab of caramel (or toffee?) and a hit of alcohol. I don’t know the ABV of this, but the burn lingers at the back of my throat. Dry coffee finish. Pretty decent... and warming.

Binny’s Beverage Depot, Orland Park, IL