Thomas Hooker Liberator Doppelbock

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

Bottle vintage 2006. [Courtesy of Papsoe, another great session @ Papsoe] Small fizzy off-white head that mostly diminished. Light cloudy dark mahogany colored. Spare lacework. Aroma of toffee, rye bread, grapefruit bitter notes as well. Full bodied with an average carbonation. Moderated bitter flavor with light sweetness. Bitter lingering finish. 31-08-2007

Swing top bottle: Deep brown of the darkest woods, with a pillowy head of off-white foam. The aroma is airy, but has an underlying tease of dark roasted coffee. The aroma doesn’t even give a hint of the powerhouse of an aroma billowing underneath this head ... full and boiling with dark roast, baking chocolate, and fermented bread. This is a powerhouse of a dark beer, warming and delicious. I’m on a roll. (#3175, 11/5/2007)

Poured dark brown with hints of some reddish brown with a medium sized tan head and nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of plums, nuts, roasty and toasty malt, and that standard lagerish finish. Dry, roasted malt, chocolate, mocha and sweet chocolate. Very nice, creamy, full, mouthfeel. A real winner.

MN Winter Get Together, 2006: Murky brown color with no head. Bready aroma, more reminiscent of a Dubbel than Doppelbock. Dry malt is the main factor here, with a little maple finish. Alcohol is noticeable, but not overpowering.

2005 bottle drunk on 1/20/05
Subtle, restrained aroma of lightly roasted malted, easygoing caramel and chocolate. Light yeast apparency. Dark chestnut brown with magenta tinges and a big creamy light beige head. Fresh flavors of noble hops, flavorful roast (not too bitter or oily) and a balancing caramel and chocolate sweetness. Bottle conditioned. Medium body, very drinkable, low carbonation.
2005 draught. Still as good as I remember, chocolate and light roast abounds. The body is medium without any wateriness, while the flavor is full. I can drink a 1 Liter of this stuff in about 20 minutes. It’s just so not overdone in any aspect, even considering its young age. Light fruits and a deep, juicy, herbal-like noble hops flavor on the finish, well-intertwined with the malt.

2004 bottle, batch 1 consumed on 3/9/07
Wow. Almost zero oxidation, still a huge head and great retention. Wonderful beer, with a thick, rich, chocolatey aroma, light toffee and some nuttiness.
I can see why some people were criticizing this beer, when it first came out, for being too chocolatey for the style. It’s very similar to a chocolate bock and has a thick, fudge-like mouthfeel and plenty of that flavor. Still, it’s flawlessly brewed, manages some moderate roast on the end and just has a perfect texture. Only a light breadiness, relative to style. Regardless of any criticism on this batch, Paul (the brewer) adapted his recipe to be much less chocolatey and show more vinous bock character in subsequent batches. I give him all the credit in the world for this wonderful beer.

Pours a deep mahogany brown with a nice beige head. Aroma is very malty, bready, munich, vienna, toasted malts, some chocolate and toffee, with some fruitiness as well. Flaovr is loaded with caramunich malts and some chocolate, and finished off with a little bitterness, but mostly sweet. Definitely worthy of being grouped with the best doppelbocks in the world. Its hard to say if there is a better example made in the US.

(750ml bottle) Sampled at TiggMTL’s Montreal Crew YEHa!05 Christmas Party on December 17, 2005. Finally - a Connecticut beer! Pours a thin, beige head with a deep brown body. Nose is very boozy and figs. The flavour was boozy as well with tones of coffee and brandy. Nice stuff.

Bottle (500ml) shared with HogTownHarry, tupalev & biegaman -- courtesy of biegaman. 2006 bottle. Pours a very deep ruby with a small diminishing off-white head. Aroma’s quite mild, a little roasty, and with some hints of chocolate and alcohol. Flavour’s more flavourful then the aroma suggests: Lightly roasted malt with some faint chocolate, nuts and hops and some alcohol in the finish. Medium bodied. Pretty good but I was expecting more.