Ettaler Curator Doppelbock

Brewed by Klosterbrauerei Ettal
Style: Doppelbock
Ettal, Germany

Pours a clear ruby brown with a small head. The aroma is much like dark wheat bread up front followed by figs and dates underneath. The flavor is fairly light, bread crusts, and dried fruits mostly, but there’s a salty-like tang in the finish and the alcohol has a bit of a burn.

(500 ml bottle from Downeast Beverage Co.) Pours dark brown with a small soft biege head that recedes to about 1/8". Aroma is kind of sharp alcohol and other sweetness, plus some banana, not what I’d expect from a dark doppel. Mouthfeel kind of light, fairly smooth, a little sticky, prickly in finish. Spotty lacing. Flavor is mostly the banana with some brown sugar maltiness way in the back. Some alcohol burn but not bad. Finishes soapy. This was kind of an unexpected mess. Re-rate 9/4/06 on new bottle: No sharp alcohol in aroma. Liked the palate alot better this time. Still quite a bit of banana in aroma and flavor. No soapiness however. Pretty good except for banana - doesn’t that just belong in a Belgian?

Nice. Pours a deep reddish brown with a bubbling tan head. The aroma is smokey, deep caramel malts with some herbal/grassy hops. Good flavor, rich with sweet malts, nicely balanced by the herbal hop bitterness... and a touch of smoke and a squeak of the sturdy abv. Not shabby at all.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Beverage Depot, Orland Park, IL<font size=-1>

"Ended the night of sampling with a bad one. Poured a darker brown with large head which left with no lacing. Aroma was grassy and smoaky. Flavor all bad. grassy dirt, like someone burnt my front yard and put it in a glass. not good"

Well, I was highly disappointed in this one. Poured a dark brown color with a decent initial head that disappeared and didn’t lace great. The aroma was smokey and grassy. The flavor was just bad, I thought it was soo much Saaz hops that resulted in not just grassy but dirt type notes. After reading E’s review, I think peat smoked is dead on. Peat smoked, grassy flavors with light bready and even nutty notes underneath. The mouthfeel was moderate for the style.

An absolute beauty of a doppelbock, and I see where Stoudts must have got their inspiration for their Anniversary Bock. A nice aroma, if a bit toned down, with notes of melanoidins, a little cocoa, and some spicy hop. Flavor is rounded with smooth caramelized malts, and a minor touch of chocolate. Finish is balanced. The real story here is the balance and mouthfeel. For a 9% malt monster, the beer is perfectly balanced, with a medium body at most. Smooth as all get out. It drinks so incredibly easy. One of the top doppels I’ve had.

Bottled. Beer was ckear, dark, brown with a small, frothy, white, mostly diminishing head. The aroma was moderately malty with notes of roasted grain, chocolate, coffee, molasses and nearly caramelized sugar; Hoppy with a light note of her; Yeasty with light notes of cobweb and dough; Traces of oak and vanilla. The flavor was moderately-to-heavily sweet, moderately bitter with a long, lightly acidic, moderately bitter finish. The body was medium, the texture was velvety, the carbonation was lively and there was a light alcoholic warmth in the finish.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is medium to dark brown. Aroma is moderately malty (bread, nuts, caramel, molasses). Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly to moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Straightforward, simple, sweet example. Malt character in the nose is pleasant, though.