Doppelbock Tasting at Gomer's

If you haven't signed up for Gomer's email lists, you really should. Last night, Gomer's hosted a free tasting of 7 doppelbocks, served with cheese and wonderful herb-encrusted salami, and presented with a brief but informative lecture about the history, composition and stylistic expectations of the style.

I've written about doppelbocks several times before (1, 2, 3, 4). Doppelbocks were invented by monks who wanted to pack as much nutrition and richness as possible into a liquid form, for those long days of Lent when they were required to fast by eschewing food. A loaf of bread in a bottle, doppelbocks are big, rich, warming beers, perfect for sipping on one of these February nights when it feels like winter will never loosen its grip.

The beers presented were Spaten Optimator (noticeable alcoholic warming, chocolate nuance, surprisingly dry), Ayinger Celebrator (some higher alcohols, classic of the style), Tucher Bajuvator (spicy background hops and some fruity esters), Weihenstephaner Korbinian (earthy, rich, smoky - named after St. Corbinian, the Irish monk who founded the monastery which became the brewery), Bell's Consecrator (classical, with a nice clean finish), Tommyknocker Butthead (too sweet and estery), and Sam Adams Double Bock (classical, with rich dark fruit notes).

Alert and informed fans of doppelbock will notice a glaring omission from the above list. Alas, Paulaner Salvator, the original of the style - the beer that the Pope approved for Lenten drinking because it had spoiled on the journey to Rome and seemed properly penitential - was unavailable from the distributor.

Each of the samples was pre-poured in ~1 ounce samples in small wine glasses. While it would have been slightly better to have the beers freshly poured, so that more of the volatile aromas would have been present at tasting time, the size of the crowd (~40) would have made that a challenge without a bevy of staff.

Gomer's South deserves a lot of credit for the effort they have been putting in to hosting regular beer events. Next week, there will be a free tasting of the amazing beers from Founder's Brewery, and last week O'Fallon was featured.