Thomas Hooker Liberator Doppelbock

Brewed by Thomas Hooker Brewing Company
Style: Doppelbock
Bloomfield, Connecticut USA

Latest 03/05 Batch. Very dark and roasty. A bit like a porter or brown ale, and yes, slightly ale-like. Maybe a bit rushed. Still very tasty, but not to syle. Nice malt character and mouth feel.

After NJ fest 04. Bottle courtessy of a BA. I need to get a bunch of this next time it comes out. Nice big malt aroma. Flavor is big and malty as will with chocolate undertones. Clean and well made. Needs ratings, for I am certain it will do well.

Thin to medium blackness with crimson brown lit edges. Stocky, firm, billowing, dark sandy brown cap grows at a wonderfully slow pace to a thick despenseful foam of chocolate milk bubbly froth. Dense thickness proceeds to keep its position whilst engaging the liquid. The lacing is placed in creamy patches. Aroma is delicate and lofty with a robust tangy malt base heeding to molasses and dark cherry/plum. Sensitive dark chocolate cookies and toasted spiced breads linger over the top with some nuts, cinnamon, seasame, and fresh clove. Turns a bit woodsy and oily after its been sitting along with a note of farmhouse yeasty must. The delicacies this has on the nose are outstanding. Its no beast mind you. Its soft and frail to the point of memory. Lovely! Taste has a big malty start with a large portion of molasses and dark cherry bringing a sweet intial shock to the palate. Loaded and full of high and sweet tang. Levels off after some time in the glass and after the first few minutes of sipping. Middle reveals a slight chocolate underlay with a cookie dough sweetness keeping it a tad buttery and vanillafied. Turns darker with roasty malts and slight smokey earth as the chocolate helps lead away from the intial tang of sweetness. Finish smooths out with more delicate mannerisms then the front and middle. Nicely melded spices of nuts, cinnamon, ginger, herbal hops, and fig cross and mend the rest of it together as it floats off with a ghostly dignified dryness. It grows in complexity, which is by far the most intriguing thing about this beer. Sip to sip it keeps bringing more fragile layers within. Body of this beer is huge. Continuingly full. Big on malts with tang at first, then toast and roast, then spices and smoothness. Has a unique Belgian-like crispness in with the tangy front that twists and drops into smoothened silky rich wonderment of malt complexities and airy spice. Wow, what a ride! This doesn’t seem like 8% at all, it has a much bigger presense, without any alcoholic hints what so ever. The drinkabilty is a bit more slowed down and appreciable. A damn fine Dopple.

500 ml bottle thanks to Taktik_MTL, thanks Marc. Pours a nice looking very deep dark ruby reddish brown with a slim foamy off white head. Rather vinous aroma with notes of vinegar and some fruit.thin to medium palate that is slightly slick with not mch carbonation. Flavor of vinegar, chocolate malt and some acidity. Perhaps time would have done this beer some more but hey it’s still a great bottle for the collection.

Pours an almost black brown with a creamy dark beige head. Aroma just has a tiny hint of spices. It almost flirts with porter in style. Quite substantial. Makes me wish I had venison.

Sampled both the 2004 and 2005 thanks to DYCSoccer. The numbers reflect the 2004. Pours a very dark brown color, almost black from a distance with a tan head. Rich aroma of chocolate malt, plum, tobacco, and some toasted nuts. Flavor is of chocolate and dark fruits. The year or so in the bottle has taken some of the sharp edges off of the beer leaving you with with a doppelbock that shows remarkable restraint. This is excellent. The 2005 would get 7/4/7/4/14. The aromas and flavors of the ’05 are brash and do not hold back as much and I feel it detracts from the beer overall. Still, quite a nice doppelbock.

Intense malty aroma, caramel, some hops. Dark brown body, small tan head. Very malty flavor, some toffee and ends with a slight bitterness. A bit disappointing, too one-dimensional.

33.8 oz bottle. Nose of smoky caramel and raisin. Dark brown with a slim tan head. Licorice and brown sugar; pruney with an acidic bite. Hints of walnuts. Medium body. Screams out for some sausage. Solid.

1 L bottle sampled thanks to drewbeerme. Pours a brown black with an off white head and patch lacing. Dopple aroma malt, bakers chocolate, brown sugar, fruit. Malty sweet flavors more bakers chocolate and hints of fruit. Not too sweet or too dry, balanced well to make an excellent beer.