Left Hand Smoked Goosinator Doppelbock

Brewed by Left Hand Brewing Co.
Style: Smoked
Longmont, Colorado USA

750ml bottle-pours a big foamy tan head and amber/orange-brown color. Aroma is smoky/smoked bacon, medium/dark malt-caramel/chocolate, spicy/woody. Taste is nice smoky/peat that’s there and balanced, not over powering, medium/dark malt-caramel/chocolate/licorice, some sweet, secondary spicy/woody hops. Easy drinking, smooth, very likable. OK/mild carbonation.

07 bottling. Pours a very light amber, brown with a nice big off white head. Nose has a nice smoked almond with a sweetness hidden in the background. Smokiness definitely comes through in the taste along with some nice bread dough characteristics. Very clean and lot of flavor. Nice beer.

courtesy of cartdan ’07 bottle (750ml). Pours nice amber, beige head. Aroma is smokey and grainy. Taste has a lot of smoke and malts. Leaves a nice lingering sweet pork taste. Beer was very drinkable. I was pleasantly surprised by this Left Hand offering.

Bottle generously shared by Indra. Pours a cloudy light brown with a thin, creamy, beige head and sheeting lace. The nose is of solid smoky malt without slapping you in the face the way some smoked brews do. A dark, sweet caramel note backs the smoky front. Medium-bodied and slick with a dry finish. The flavor follows the nose with a slight drop-off; a tad drier than I’d prefer. This is a nice doppelbock with a solid smoked malt front. Thanks again for sharing this with us, Eric.

750 bottle courtesy of Indra, sampled at the 10/18 tasting. 2007 Vintage. Pour is hazed ruby copper with a 1/2 inch off white head. Aroma of smoke, roasty wood fire and that’s about it. Taste is the hammy smokiness - that is the story. The palate supports the smoke nicely, thin enough to be drinkable, heavy enough not to be watery. A nice smoked.

From a 750ml bottle. A dark copper body was topped with a light khaki colored head. Smoke and tobacco came through for me on the initial smell. I also got some toffee. The taste was smoky tobacco with some toffee. There was also bread crust and some heavy milk chocolate. A pleasant surprise from Left Hand.

750ml corked bottle, 2007 vintage. Sweet, dark malt aroma, toffeeish, roasty and lightly smoky and ashy, bready and mildly chocolatey. Lightly hazy brown in color with rosy highlights and a lasting, sparse, light tan head. Flavor is hugely malty, with plenty of dark caramel and toffee, the smoke showing up in the background throughout, plenty of dark roasty grains, blended with a mild hop profile, milky chocolate and a touch of alcoholic warmth towards the finish. Smoothly effervescent and rather substantial palate, body is nice and full. Interesting and flavorful stuff.

My Bottom Line:
Enticing beechwood smokiness lifts toasted cereals and delicate earthy hops for a highly flavorful yet modest Rauch Doppelbock.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A veil of foam covers the hazy amber-red.
-This is quite drinkable for its strength.
-The smoke carries all the way to the finish, yet never overwhelms the flavor profile.
-Effervescence is soft and the body not too round.
-This may not be Hümmel’s Raucherator, but it’s very enjoyable nonetheless.

Bottle; lot code Dec.2008.