JosephsBrau Winterfest

Brewed by Gordon Biersch Brewing Company
Style: Doppelbock
Palo Alto, California USA

12oz bottle. Dark brown color. White foamy head. Aroma of roasted malt. Not coffee just the smell of grains. (Kinda making me hungry.) Flavor of malt. Finishes with a little coffee and distant bitterness. Not a bad beer, just not an impressive Doppelbock style.
Earlier Rating: 1/7/2007 Total Score: 3.2
Batch 10.16.2006 Dark brown color. White foamy head. Aroma of roasted malt. Not coffee just the smell of grains. (Kinda making me hungry.) Flavor of malt. Finishes with a little coffee and distant bitterness. Not a bad beer, just not an impressive Doppelbock style.

12oz bottle. Pours a deep, clear, dark brown with ruby red highlights and a medium-sized, light tan head that fades to nearly nothing quite quickly. The aroma is very bready and malty. There are also caramel, a light amount fruit (figs?), and some alcohol. The flavor starts malty and sweet. It is balanced on the tip of the tongue by some herbal hop flavor. It is full of caramel, somewhat soft in flavor, and a bit grainy, too. The middle of the tongue picks up on a light, spicy bitterness and some roasted grains and dark toast flavors. The finish is full and sweet with a good bit of grainy malts, some yeast, and a very minimal hop bitterness accompanied by a very subtle bitter fruit flavor. The mouthfeel is quite thick and full in body. It is also rather vigorously carbonated - despite pouring with only a medium-sized head. The bubbles are a bit distracting on the mid-tongue - swishing the beer around a bit releases some of the carbon dioxide and alleviates this somewhat. Overall, it is a decent tasting beer but a rather mediocre doppelbock.

Phenomenol looking august maroon with a frothy light crystal malt caramel tinged head. Malt intermingles in the nose with some dank German hops, but the malts do not completely unwind. Alcohol is well-masked, malting is again wound tightly so complexity never really develops, and there is a slight malt off-taste. Overall, decent malt flavor, with some sharp bitterish malt notes. A solid winter lager.

Clear mahogany red. Sweet malt aroma with an equivelent flavor. Very sweet finsih.

6-pack from Trader Joe’s. Now re-named "JB Winterfest" (i.e., JosephsBrau brewery). Dark in color- reddish-black. Surprisingly strong alcohol upfront that stays throughout. The heavy bitterness, almost burnt flavor fights with the alcohol. A little too much of both for me...

Name: Trader Joe’s Winterfest
Date: 03/08/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Blind Tasting

clear dark red, wispy white head, sweet dark caramel malt aroma with light spicy hops, a bit thin, sweet dark caramel malt flavor with a spicy quality, nice biter finish,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: /10
Score: *4

Reddish brown with a thick tan head. Aroma of bread and prunes, lots of prunes. Flavor is very fruity (again, lots of prunes), along with almonds and caramel. Roasty, finish, witha touch of smokiness. Medium bodied (maybe a touch light for the style), with smooth carbonation. This one is very malty and sweet, so hopheads beware. (Bottle courtesy of TheBeerCellar - thanks Matt!)

Bottled. Poured a clear, deep reddish-orange with a well-retained creamy cap of beige head. Aroma picked up a very nice array of toasted, lightly-smoked caramel and toffee.. sweet overall with a hint of warmth as it approached room temperature. The flavor was a touch hot from the alcohol, distracting from the enjoyable sweet, smoky maltage.. caramel, lighter chocolate, and a mild woody bitterness in there. The was a touch slick on the palate from the alcohol.. heavier malts pushed back a little bit.. long, warm, and sweet finish was quite nice. Tasty brew!