Mmm... Celebrator Doppelbock

A week from today is our monthly HOPS! meeting, and I've volunteered to lead this month's tasting. Of course, it wasn't hard to volunteer when the style is Doppelbock and Eisbock. Due to budget constraints, I only bought two bottles each of Weihenstephaner Korbinian (my personal favorite Doppelbock) and Aventinus Eisbock. However, I have extra bottles of our other two exemplars--Ayinger Celebrator and Bell's Consecrator--and in an effort to properly lead the tasting I figure it's my duty to review these two beers. If I'm writing down tasting notes I figure I might as well post them here. So tonight it's Celebrator (and with the Blackhawks playing Game 6 as I type this I hope I have something to celebrate by the night's end).

The beer pours a deep, dark mahogany. If you hold it up to the light you see the beer is brilliantly clear with beautiful ruby highlights. A rather thin tan head rose to the top, though I suspect that's because I was overly cautious with my pour.

While I generally associate Doppelbocks with sweet, bready, malty aromas, this one is surprisingly balanced. You get some sweet molasses and sweet rye but it's complemented by a slight herbal hop aroma as well as a subtle roasted coffee note.

When you take a sip, you get a nice bready malt flavor up front but it's not sugary. As it lingers in your mouth you get some brown sugar sweetness but personally I'm not picking up too much stone fruit which you often get with German malt bombs. The finish is great... much like the aroma the sweetness is balanced beautifully with a noble hop bitterness and a touch of roast malt that is in no way bitter or astringent.

Overall, I think Celebrator is a great example of what makes Doppelbock such an awesome style: at 6.7% ABV, it's no lightweight (particularly by German standards) but yet it's incredibly drinkable. The notable hop and roasted notes render Celebrator somewhat unique for a German Doppelbock. While personally I like a little more depth in the maltiness of my Doppelbock, this is still a wonderful beer. Cheers!