Ettaler Curator Doppelbock

Brewed by Klosterbrauerei Ettal
Style: Doppelbock
Ettal, Germany

Bottle on 10/24/06. Clear dark brown with a nicely structurted and well sustained medium tan head leaving a fine lace. Caramel aroma with a hint of roasted nuts, a faint floral essence, and some alcohol showing through. Rich, smooth mouthfeel, medium/full body, and light carbonation. Molasses, burnt sugar, and a spicy hops character give this a bit of sharpness that isn’t evident in a Celebrator for instance. Nonetheless, a satisfying Doppelbock that goes down easily.

Bottle pours a dark brown with ruby red highlights and no head. Chocolate and yeast is primarily the aroma although rather faint at that. Chocolate, carmel, some dark fruit a little prune and some other dried fruit make up the flavors with a thin amount of alcohol behind it. They were rather smooth together and could be brought to the forefront a little more. Finishes with chocolate, sweet and bitter.

Dark reddish brown body with a small tan head. Dark roasted malt aroma with some dry caramel. More dry roasted malt in the flavor with some light caramel.

The 16.9 ounce bottle poured a clear rich mahogany brown beverage with a small off-white fizzy head that was almost mostly diminishing but left some lacing on the glass. The aroma was beautifully complex, much of which I could not differentiate. What I could recognize though were notes of honey, caramel, sweet molasses, and a hint of coffee. It had a full body with soft carbonation and a smooth, thick texture. The flavor started out sweet with caramel, coffee, dried fruits and roasted grains. The finish was wonderfully long with a comforting alcohol warmth beginning somewhere in the middle and the sweetness lasts throughout.

Nice ruby-brown body with a good ivory, foamy head. Malty aroma with a slight fruit tang, great for a dopplebock. Nice taste, smooth tang with an apple/banana accent. Malty ending with a hint of hops.

Poured a cherry red, like a fire truck ... with a tan foamy head. Aroma is interesting ... sweet and fruity, but in a thick way. A thick-bodied beer, too ... syrupy and sweet, but not in a sugary way ... more along the lines of figs, prunes or some other dried tropical fruit. Excellent beer to warm the soul.

Oh shit....this is good! Aroma of cloves, port, nuts and smoke. Thick dark brown foam which seem to disappear quickly. Dark redbrown colour. Extremely complex flavour, a quitesweet, on the border of yucky. There’s figs, cigar, caramel and lots more. Damn babe! Surprisingly short finish, which is good in this, then you get to drink more..

Dull brown with a murky glow thats heavy in the middle getting slivers of dark gold at the edges and bottom. Huge topping of dark ivory foam thats loose, puffy, fluffy, and thick. Didn’t sit for too long before slipping to its always present thick skim and concentrated bubbly center. Lots of great looking inky lacing coats the glass. A beautiful bock to behold! Aroma is tenderly dark and sweet with semi tanged molasses thats deeply centered in a root beer soaked fruit bread dusted with cooked brown sugar and currants. Taste is seemingly similar to what the smell leads ya too. A good thing here as this is quite solid in taste, flavor, and body. Smooth and luscious in a thickly coating dark maltyness that brings in a nice molasses tang thats mildly tanged and slow. Nice notes of brown sugar, dark fruity chewy things, caramel, chocolate, and a good portion of length into the finish. By far the best area of the beer. It transcends into its own as it finishes very lengthy with a stretched out dark malty coating and tiny warming. Nearly perfect for a Doppel in body. Nice easy front with a steady medium body gaining a very complex tone into the finish as the dark malts gain in flavor, body texture, and warmth. Very easy goin’ down with a great gooey little texture of smoothness. Ahhh, malts, malts, and more malts. Solidly good. Drinkable and then some. Only a slight hint of warmth after a while begins to settle in as ya go and tends to slow it down. But for a Doppelbock, this is very solid and a showcase of the style.