Monteith's Doppelbock
Well this is something quite different for me - a fairly mainstream brewery with a fairly unheard-of (at least in the NZ craft brew world) style. Doppelbocks (and bocks in general) seem to be vacant from the NZ scene (Sprig & Fern have a great Doppelbock maybe I need to get my hands on one for a blog), despite being a bloody good style of beer. Perhaps because it's a malt forward style with the hops having no role at all on the front line, in a hoppy new world. A beer to showcase delicious German malts, with Munich perhaps being the star player. (I recently made a Munich SMaSH (all Munich malt) and decided that maybe I don't like Munich malt as much as I thought, but drinking this beer today definitely reinforced to me that I love Munich malt.)
I'm not sure what exactly gives it the creamy richness (that my SMaSH lacked) but that creaminess complements the sweet almost bready flavour of the Munich perfectly. Those darker richer malts are so often fermented with an ale yeast giving a big body and strong flavour, but this German style use of a lager yeast gives a much smoother and softer feel to the rich malts, leaving it feel a lot lighter in body and completely different to say a brown ale or porter, despite still being rich and full of flavour.
This beer had a beautiful brown slightly reddish hue, although the head didn't really form or hang around despite a fairly vigorous pour. Smelt delicious. I really enjoyed it, I'd say the best Monteith's beer I've had by far. They used to sell it in a six pack, but I think it's just big bottles now?
Hmm, I did make a decent Doppelbock a few years ago, perhaps I'll have to find the recipe.
ABV: 6.8%
Brewery: Mnteith's
Region: Auckland (I think some production is still in Timaru? Originally West Coast before DB bought them)
Style: Doppelbock
Wife check: (wife absent)
Drinking song: The Other Side by Aerosmith
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