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Review: Granville Island Brewing Merry Monks Doppelbock – Aged

Friday, January 9th, 2009 | Review

This is the first review of an aged beer on this site- there will be many more to come, but sadly we will have to wait at least six months for more beer to mature. For an impatient person such as myself, this is quite a challenge. During this waiting period, we will be busy stocking up our cellars providing updates about our most recent cellar additions in our new page The Cellar.

Year Brewed: 2007
Time in Cellar: 13 Months

This Christmas I poured the first beer from my cellar, Granville Island’s Merry Monks Doppelbock. I tried this big lager while visiting Granville Island’s tasting room November 2007 – it wasn’t my favorite beer that day. The malt flavour was intense, as a doppelbock should be, but the alcohol taste was overpowering. I put a single bottle of the beer in my cellar hoping that the alcohol taste would mellow and more complex flavours would develop.

The strong alcoholic flavour is still present, although somewhat more subdued after sitting for a year. The powerful malt flavour has mellowed a bit, taking on a rich toffee taste. As expected, the mild hop flavour present in the fresh brew is almost nonexistent in the cellared beer. The beer is smooth and almost creamy, but one year was probably not enough time in the cellar. Granville Island no longer brews this seasonal beer, if you happen to have one in your cellar I recommend letting it age for a few more years.

Erik

Tags: Aged, Beer, cellar, Granville Island Brewing, Merry Monks Doppelbock

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