Viking Brewing Invader Doppelbock

Brewed by Viking Brewing Company
Style: Doppelbock
Dallas, Wisconsin USA

Tasted at the ’Tosa gathering and provided by JPDipso, 12 oz bottle: Amber hued with a small tight off-white head and good lace. This beer also had a unique caramel apple laden nose much like the JS Bock but even stronger. Additional aromas of allspice, heather and wildflowers, and a hint of alcohol. The taste starts with a bold caramel malt and apple character with a woody and floral finish. A bit yeasty and meaty but very much not dopplebock like IMO. The feel is slick and smooth but could be heavier. Again, strangely different and not to style but I enjoyed it enough for a solid rating. Is the apple nose and flavors found a brewery signature or a sign of flaw in the process?

Minimal off-white head. Nice spicy dry apple butterscotch liquor aroma. Watermelon apples in taste. Decent flavor but a little light-bodied. The aroma leads you to believe it is bigger than it is.

Medium malty aroma. Clean with no off aroma, so that is a good sign, as I’ve had some disappointing beers from them in the past. Their bottled beers are unpasturized and bottle conditioned, which makes freshness a key challenge. Deep amber color. Good carbonation, dense tan head about 1/4" thick. Slick, oily mouthfeel. Body is medium to big. Malt flavor is present, but not as dominate as I’d like. Hops are low, as they should be. A bit of yeasty, bready notes in the taste and mouthfeel. Perhaps this particular style of beer lends itself to being filtered. A cleaner finish, a bigger malt profile and we might have something here.

The Invador was disappointing. Viking brews some fantastic beers, and I love doppelbocks, so I was excited to try this one. It pours a very pretty red with a wispy little head. Not much aroma to speak of. The taste was very sweet, in a smoky malty way. Nice effervesence, but not quite enough to round out the sweetness. I think it just lacks the complexity I was looking for...I’ll take a Salvator, thank you.

Pours cloudy cherry cola color. No aroma from my sample. Flavor is floury (not flowery, but like flour). Hint of rauch. Aftertaste is supermalt with a sour note. Not to be repeated.

Dark Thick Red Coloring with Small Head. Aroma is Wonderfully Rich and Complex...I Had High Hopes After Taking in the Aroma...The Flavor Unfortunatly, Disappoints. It Definitly Has a Grainy Quality to it...Little Bitter and Lacking the Heavy Malts and Richness That I Had Hoped This Bottle Would Contain. The Invaders Were, Successfully Repelled.

With many dark beer styles lack of sufficient carbonation would not be so much of a detriment, but this doppelbock is quite runny in texture like A&W root beer that’s been left in the sun. Pleasant malt-banana aroma. Flavor is sweet and grainy like most dbocks, with aftertaste rather empty. Though on the lower end of the scale it’s still an ok beer.

Badgerben called this one right. Standarb bock aroma. Flavor is sweet with a syrup texture. Flavors of cereals. Rather thin. nearly flat, with a dark brown color. I wonder if there was a problem with the seal on the bottle?