Starr Hill Brewery | Snow Blind Doppelbock

There’s a style we don’t see too often; Doppelbock. First things first, this style is a lager and it hails from Germany, as the “bock” in it’s name would suggest. This type of beer is known to be very malty with an ABV begining above 7.0%. “Doppel” litterally means “double” so it’s meant to be a bigger beer. You know all those stories you’ve heard about monks brewing beer for lent that they’d fast on? Doppelbock.

Starr_Hill_Snow_BlindNow, let’s talk about this specific Doppelbock, Snow Blind, from our friends in Charlottesville, Virginia. As it is a lager and very malty the bill calls for 2-Row, Munich, Carafa and Caramunich. As far as hops go, Perle – which is a German-bred Hallertau type hop known to bring a minty or spicy up front bitterness.

Enough of the geek talk, let’s taste the beer. On first glance this beer poured with a nice but quickly dissipating head. It’s a reddish brown color, filtered with a sweet (caramel perhaps?) but bread-like nose. On the tongue I taste honey, a little bit of biscuit, there’s that caramel again….then it leaves the pallet very clean after lingering briefly. While it’s a mouthful it’s still refreshing leaving you wanting to take the next sip.

Final snobs: this is a fun one. While I love the winter seasonal porters and stouts, it’s fun to see something a different and so well done. I don’t think you’d be disappointed sipping on a six pack of this over a winter weekend. I know I won’t be!

Cheers!

Glass by Pretentious Beer Glass Company – Malty