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.
Now, 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!