New Holland Blue Goat Doppelbock

Brewed by New Holland Brewing Company
Style: Doppelbock
Holland, Michigan USA

Tawny mahogany, hey that rhymes! More brown in the center and very thick and hazed in a wonderful deep glow. Soft slimmer capping of stained yellow foam sits atop to stay briefly leaving an always present skim and collaring. Only a few small splotches and globs of lace stick low in the glass. Aroma is light but hefty of matly goodness carrying gooey thick caramel candy, molasses, nuts, and toffee notes mixing with a bit of figgy raisin paste fruityness. Taste is quite solid if not more than that. Very substantial malting here. Favorably round, creamy and nearly full in the mouth. The finish is the only downfall as it petters out with a weakened pause of toffee and some gooey left over cloying of dark fruity jelly and caramel. Overall though this makes the cut for a good dopplebock with solid molasses, toffee, caramel, dark fruity, chewy, bready goodness. I quite like it. Feel is smooth and semi chewy with one soft silky touch as it goes down. Again the only thing is a need for an extra boost in the finish and perhaps a bit more roasty/toasty aspects and notes to its character. Solid and drinkable by many refills of the pint glass. Its kinda a bummer that its a bit pricey.

Brown pour with a thin light colored head. I thought it had a great aroma.. caramel, dark fruits, raisins and chocolate. LIght carbonation. Thin body for a doppelbock. A bit syrupy and sweet. Mostly plum and raisin. Some cherry. Some caramel towards the finish. Quite a letdown actually, the aroma was pretty good but the light body and muted flavor falls flat. I can see why it’s rated so low.

Bottle; nice looking. A brownish amber with off white head. Aroma of caramel, chocolate, and nuts. Flavor predominately of dark fruit and caramel. I picked up a pepper element as well. Hints of nuts and chocolate. Overall it was ok.

Date: 05/10/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

clear brown, whispy beige head, touch of lace, dry carmel malt aroma with earty hops, big body, rich malt flavor, touch of carmel sweetness in the end,

Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.8/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *4

It tastes better than it looks. It looks really flat. The aroma is okay, nothing really outstanding. A little grassy, yeasty, some of the aforementioned carmels, are present in the aroma. The taste is pretty good though. Smooth, a little alcohol, a lot of drinkability. It scored higher than I thought it would.

bottle - Pours dark amber with a thin head. The aroma is very malty with lots of caramel. The taste is also heavy caramel malts. There’s not too much else going on there, perhaps a little nuttiness, but those caramel malts really dominate. Medium bodied and lightly carbonated, this beer is a good quaff when you want something sweet, but lacks complexity.

Dark amber w/ finger of beige foam. Sweet malty aroma w/ notes of caramel, chocolate, dried figs, & raisins. Medium feel. Sweet, malty flavour w/ some roasty notes.

I can only assume the waitress brought me something else by mistake, because this tasted very little like a doppelbock. (This was at the New Holland brewpub, in MI.) Very, very faint flavor that somewhat resembled a doppelbock. Overall, lame.