Thomas Hooker Liberator Doppelbock

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

Opened with a "pop" that stopped my heart momentarilly (first time opening one of these bottles) WOW! Anyways.... Pours a very dark blood red color, a decent size off white head sits atop, with some smaller dabs and streaks of lacing. Aroma is sweet, full of darker fruits and a litlte chocolate/sweetness. Flavor is sweet and malty. Lots of fruit and roasted malt taste to it. Cherries, plums, a little chocolate, and a little "nutty" flavor to it as well. Thanks to IMTheOptimator for this one!

Bottle. Dark brownish body, some red highlights, with a dark tan head and sticky lacing. Nose is of dark fruit, raisins, caramel, wheat, a slight hop influence, and spicy ginger. Lots of dark raisins and caramel flavors, burnt sticky malts, some chocolate and roast in the finish. Full-bodied, balanced very well and quite yummy. Definitely one of my top lagers.

Very dark color with no head. Chocolate, licorice aroma with hints of coffee. Tastes of chocolate, caramel and hints of coffee.

Draft. Pures black with tan head. The aroma was of coffee,smoke and roasted malts. The body was firm and rich. The taste was sweet with the aftertaste becoming bitter like darkly roasted coffee. This was a very good brew but I found myself struggling to the finish line.

2006 bottle. Pours a dark dark brown with a nice light tan head. Big sweet malt, though not cloying. Toast and a slight amount of caramel, alcohol, and fruity to peppery hops. A nice balance. Slight hints of honey and cinnamon. Thick and creamy in the mouth, with perhaps a bit of grit, but not offensive, only giving this some more weight, very nice. About perfect. Tastes great too. Sweet, round malt. Toast and caramel round out this treat. Alcohol and roast are present at a greater level than I expect in the style, but I’m certainly not complaining. this is a nice beer indeed. A slight hint of chocolate in the finish, over the alcohol and spicy hops. the finish is very dry and dark though. I may just buy another bottle when I head back to Connecticut again. Warming brought more fruit and realy had me convinced this wasn’t quite to style so I dropped my rating of overall to 4.1... though I have my doubts.

Pours a deep brown with a lightly tanned head. Huge munich nuttiness in the aroma. An enormous body yet not too sweet! Grassy and earthy. Very breadlike with a subtle hoppiness. Nice spices and a significant amount of dried fruits and nuts. Again, NOT TOO SWEET! Very good, one of the best of this style I have tried.

Very nutty and sweet. a little too carbonated for me. It’s a pretty good dopplebock but not my favorite style.

thanks zeswaft. surprisingly smoky aroma. mostly malt though. taste has a crazy strong malt a bit into the finish. not like any other dopplebock i’ve ever had. so strongly malty. a bit of sourness in the front to middle, roasts dominate the back end.... i like this, but i think it’s too intense for me.