Stoudts Smooth Hoperator

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

A dopplebock with an IPA twist. It drew my interest. A deep reddish amber colored beer. A big off white soapy head. Some hang time settling into a nice, clingy lacing. A thick malting aroma. Citrusy hop undertones. Moderate bodied beer. Decent smoothness. The taste hits upfront with citrusy hops. Interesting, Yes. A good drink, indeed.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

This beer pours with a nice amber to copper colored body topped off by a creamy light biege colored head that quickly went down into a thin film that left light patchy lace down the sides of the glass. The aroma is piney hops with some very light citrusy tones with a strange slightly metallic scent coming through as well. The mouthfeel is light to medium bodied with some sharp acidity. The flavor on this really is off the wall to be considered a doppelbock, almost tastes like an IPA/Doppelbock blend with rich piney hops offset by a nice caramel and bready malt balance.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Um, not sure I’d call this a doppelbock, but I’ll rate it pretending it isn’t. Pour was ruby red with nice fluffy head and lacing. Wonderful aroma of flowers and grapefruit. The flavor was sweet pink grapefruit, caramel malt and floral notes. Big sweet base and huge hop profile as well. Almost crisp and refreshing, despite the huge sweetness. They shouldn’t call this a doppelbock...not at all...but I liked it.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Pours with a frothy, somewhat dense, initially fat-two-finger thick, creamy tan colored head. The beer is a brilliantly clear, gold-hued, bright cranberry color. The aroma is nicely hoppy, with notes of herbal pine noticed up front. A closer inspection yields more of the same, but with more intensity. This is citrus infused though with aromas reminiscent of grapefruit, touches of tangerine and some notes of lemon rind. This has a "herbal" note to it that makes me think of hemp seed oil, this note, while somewhat soft, is definitely, distinctly noticeable. There is also a fair amount of malt character here by way of toasty malt notes, soda crackers and a touch of caramel malts.

The hop character is aggressively noticeable from the get go. A bracing bitterness and tons of herbal, rank hop flavors linger on in the finish. A mix of garlic chives, hemp oil, astringent hop leaf and pungent pine sap lingers on in the finish and really clings to the palate. What malt character is noticeable is quite clean and provides a touch of chewy, malty, complex sweetness for all of a half second at the front of each sip before it is subsumed by the dominant hop notes. Touches of softer, fruit-focused hop notes can be noticed at times; flavors of grapefruit and tangerine can be pulled out if you really dig for it.

I was quite surprised to see this listed as a Doppelbock. The hop character is clearly the dominant note here; even to be an American interpretation the malt really needs to play a bigger role here (this is of course my own opinion though as this beer clearly shines as an example that I am wrong). This really does not work for me even on a purely hop driven level as the garlic / herbal hop character of Summit hops is just a bit too dominant to be enjoyable. This is just another beer that proves to me how much I really do not like Summit hops.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Pours a clear caramel brown with not much in the way of head. Fairly caramelly body, but there’s a solid hop bitterness. It’s not really hoppy, but not exactly all malt driven either.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Couldn't believe this was a doppelbock, tasted it blind to style and assumed it was just a rich IPA. Pour was frothy white head over top of a full amber color body. The aroma was citrus hops, grapefruits, light caramel. The flavor followed suit, strong citrus American hopping, grapefruits, melons, some caramel, some bittering noble type hops, and some grass. Too much American hop character going on to discover anything lager-like or doppelbock like underneath. Tasty in its own right, but a doppelbock? Probably a big miss on that. I'll rate it overall, not within any style.