Dark Horse Perkulator Coffee Dopplebock - Dark Horse Brewing Company

JRdaSconnie

Wisconsin

1.4/5  rDev -62.7%
look: 3 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 1 | feel: 3 | overall: 1

P: 12oz bottle purchased from The Ale Jail in St. Paul. Chilled briefly and poured into snifter.

A: Deep, clear brown with red hues. 1/2 finger head rapidly drops to ring with small amount of lace when swirled. More brown than the red-brown I'd like to see in a doppel.

S: Strong beans. Some burnt coffee but almost smells more like raw kidney beans to me. That overwhelms all other smells to me. Hope it tastes better than it smells.

T: A blend of flavors similar to the smell hits me right away. A lot going on in here but for my pallet, none of it good. I taste something burnt, maybe some woodiness (not barrel aged though), maybe green treebranches (?) then some hot alcohol on aftertaste.

M: Too busy trying to scrape it off my tongue to get much mouthfeel. Light body, carbonation level is nice.

O: Probably one of the worst beers I've had in a while. I don't get coffee and I don't get doppelbock. Probably dumping this one after about 4 sips.

Serving type: bottle

02-20-2012 03:06:31 | More by JRdaSconnie

crossovert

Wisconsin

2.13/5  rDev -43.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 1.5

12 oz bottle This is an oddity int he doppelbock realm, not sure how it will work.

It pours very much like coffee, with a dark brownish/caramel hue with some slight hints of mahogany. The head disspiates quickly with no lacing.

Coffee dominates the smell, perhaps too much, the standard doppelbock scents are sadly overshadowed.

The flavor is kind of all over the place. coffee just doesn't work well with doppelbock. This beer is two sided, it ahs an extreme coffee bitterness, and an extreme sweet fruit character. There is no middleground, there is nothing to bind the two.

Dark Horse is one of my favorite brewers but this was a iserable failure.

Serving type: bottle

11-14-2010 01:36:06 | More by crossovert

Bouleboubier

Pennsylvania

2.25/5  rDev -40%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 1.5

This is blasphemy. How can you call this a doppelbock when all I'm tasting is coffee syrup? Yeah, this ain't from Germany, but Dark Horse has taken a runny java dump on the Reinheitsgebot with this junk. My fault for not picking up on their extremely lame play-on-words with its name. Ha. Ha. I get it.

People seem to be treating certain styles a little too loosely these days - "black" IPA is another winner. Can't they just shoot off another branch on the already branchy tree of beer styles and just designate these brews otherwise?

(blah blah blah) Looks like a doppelbock in color. Congrats.

Smells like coffee. Tastes like coffee. Feels like a doppelbock infected with coffee - gave me some wicked gas like coffee.

This is not a doppelbock. Call it something else. Javabock? Konabock? I don't care. I'm all for creativity and trying new things. But uh-uh. FtS!

Serving type: on-tap

06-26-2010 04:26:53 | More by Bouleboubier

ChadQuest

Illinois

2.25/5  rDev -40%
look: 1.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

The appearance started off with me popping the cap, walking to get a glass, and when i returned a slight and slow rise of bubbles rising up from the bottle, like a very minor infection has started. This was just released again and these are new bottles so now i have to decide if i should drink them before it grows or let them grow and see what it does. haha. After i pored it into the glass it slowly settled into a still brown body that looks like flat coke. This is getting odd.
The aroma smells like a scorched perkulator! It smells like coffee that was burnt over and over for hours and then picked up the next morning while cold. Acrid paper, bleh.
Flavors are less acrid, the coffee notes are fuller and better tasting, there is more of a richness in here as the malts are able to provide a bit of backup.
The low carbonation is a bit, low. The mouthfeel is glassy, streaky.

I am going to leave the other ones sit in a warm place and see what happens, i have no worry of ruining these bottles.

Serving type: bottle

11-06-2011 03:25:31 | More by ChadQuest

schusterbauer

Michigan

2.33/5  rDev -37.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Thin brown beer, virtually no head. Flimsy looking.

The smell of the beer brings me back to the very few memories I have of my Grandpa's mobile home. I was very young when we would visit, and it always smelled like old couch, cold coffee, scrambled eggs, and cigarettes. The remnants of breakfast. Odd memories don't always bode well for beer.
I don't mind, well, in fact I often enjoy, some coffee flavor in my beer. But this beer's structure is too light to handle it, and so it ends up tasting like a cold fermented cup of coffee. Not good cold-brewed coffee, but regular coffee that got cold. It comes complete with that low-quality coffee sour aftertaste.

I give credit to Dark Horse for their willingness to experiment, but this one just didn't work out.

Serving type: bottle

11-13-2007 15:48:59 | More by schusterbauer

tykees88

Indiana

2.33/5  rDev -37.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

A- This is crystal clear. Caramel crystal colored light cream soda colored. It however, also has a soda pop type carbonation. Coca cola head that fizzles and fades.

S- Smells like sweet fruity malt and a little hint of coffee.

T-Taste is pretty bad. The presence of the dark fruit raisiny dopplebock is there. But the coffee flavor... oh my. It is like when you have chewed up a coffee bean and it gives you that astringent coffee bean dry mouth and oily feeling all at the same time. It is disgusting with beer.

M-Soda pop. enough said.

O-Major letdown from these guys. I've had some pretty good offerings from them, but this one really let me down in a major way. I was really excited to try this too

Serving type: bottle

01-28-2012 00:32:49 | More by tykees88

Rifugium

Pennsylvania

2.38/5  rDev -36.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

First had: on tap at Johnny Brenda's, Philly, PA

I only had a sample of this to see what it was, and it was...okay. I don't like coffee at all, although I can and do occasionally drink coffee-style brews (uh, beer that is), mostly in porter and stout form. I'm sure this would be worth a try to people who like this style. The bartender thought it was actually a porter, and though I suspected otherwise, I didn't place it as a doppelbock until I came home and looked it up.

I had a more proper tasting of this just recently on tap at the Trapp Door in Emmaus, PA. As above, I still recommend this beer for coffee-lovers...and ONLY for coffee-lovers. Pours clear, dark brown, with a thin, wispy head. Big aroma of coffee grounds, and not much else. Taste was almost pure coffee, almost like drinking a cold, thin cup of the stuff. There may have been some other subtle complexities present, but the coffee pretty much overwhelms everything. If that's your thing, then great, you'll love it. But it's not really my thing, so I didn't love it.

Serving type: on-tap

04-29-2011 18:52:01 | More by Rifugium

BMoney575

Michigan

2.53/5  rDev -32.5%
look: 4 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

Sampled on 6-17-08

Pours a very deep reddish brown, with a filmy off-white head and super thick lacing.

Smell is stale coffee, with just a little malty sweetness in the back.

Taste is alot like the smell, with grassy, stale coffee in the front. It continues into the middle, with a stale coffee bitterness to finish things up.

Mouthfeel much too thin to be a good doppel.

Drinkability is poor, the stale coffee flavor becomes gross after awhile.

Overall, not a good coffee beer, and not a good doppelbock.

Serving type: bottle

06-17-2008 23:25:01 | More by BMoney575

n811

Michigan

2.55/5  rDev -32%
look: 4 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

To be fair, this is the first coffee dopplebock I've had.

Poured into a pint glass with a great head, and the color was a gorgeous amber color.

Smell was like - wow - that's definitely coffee flavored!

The coffee flavor was an intense experience. I love good coffee, but this beer tasted like they used Sanka from 1985 for the blend. I was not a fan of the coffee, but I could taste that there was a good bock flavor trying its darndest to get out.

I only bought a single of this, and I have to say I wouldn't by another one if I had the chance. Dark Horse makes some excellent beers, though this one is definitely not for me.

Serving type: bottle

01-13-2009 01:24:50 | More by n811

pmcadamis

Illinois

2.6/5  rDev -30.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

A - Hey, what happened to the evil bottle artwork? I used to wear Slayer T-shirts that looked a lot like that back in high school. The new label is a little less metal, and a little more new-school hipster, but I still like it. The beer itself is a nice dark brown color with red-russet highlights, and the head is a fluffy two fingers of deep beige foam. Thick sheets of foam slide down the sides of the glass. This is a decent looking beer.

S - Freshly ground french roast beans and that's about it. I like coffee ground aroma, but it comes at the expense of everything else. This doesn't smell a damn thing like a doppelbock, it just smells like really strong super-dark roast coffee. Which is darker French roast or Italian roast? This is like the darker of the two anyhow.

T - More beeriness comes out on the tongue. Where the nose was just straight coffee beans (not brewed coffee mind you... just ground coffee beans, and extremely potent ones at that ), this is sweeter and slightly more chocolaty. There are notes of dark baker's chocolate and bitter chicory. Interesting, but not all that great.

M - Medium bodied, slighlty sweet, and extremely bitter on the finish. A second after swallowing, I can feel a good deal of alcohol heat, and a nice "hot chocolate halved with espresso" flavor comes around. The aftertaste is oddly much, much better than the initial flavor!

D - Eh, not for me. I'm not gonna slam this one, because it's doing what it is intended to do and all of the flavors and aromas are authentic and well done. I probably wouldn't seek this out again. Oddly, I've never been able to find a coffee beer that I like despite that I drink so much espresso that I bleed black. I love coffee in all of it's incarnations, except beer. And I love beer in all of it's varioius presentations except when its with coffee. What's up with that?

Serving type: bottle

03-24-2009 20:11:52 | More by pmcadamis

blackearth

Minnesota

2.68/5  rDev -28.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Purchased at Ray's Liquors in Wauwatosa, WI. Pours a very dark brown with a thin, white head that quickly fades to nothing. Metallic coffee aroma with strong coffee flavor from start to finish. Some sweet malt flavor is slightly detectable. Mouthfeel is a bit thin. This is basically a chilled coffee with alcohol. Good thing I like iced coffee, or this would get a worse review. Bonus points for having the most "metal" beer label I've ever seen. m/

Serving type: bottle

05-20-2009 00:38:33 | More by blackearth

CRichardsMN

Minnesota

2.68/5  rDev -28.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

Appearance:
Pours out a dark amber with an off-white foam ring that leaves no lacing.

Smell:
Huge nose of slightly sweet and bitter coffee. It kind of burns the nose a little. Hand me a cold coffee and I'd have a hard time telling the difference.

Taste:
Like coffee ice cream goes from creamy to coffee, this coffee beer goes from beer to coffee. There are slight hints of sweetness perhaps from malt but thats the only real trace of beer.

Mouthfeel:
Very smooth with almost no carbonation. Medium bodied very typical of a dopplebock.

Drinkability:
I typically like hints of coffee in beer and am also a fan of espresso. This is, however, in nearly all regards drinking a cup of coffee and I didn't particularly enjoy it as a replacement to beer.

Comment:
I could see a coffee junkie pulling this in for the night shift. Not bad, just not my favorite.

Serving type: bottle

11-16-2009 01:07:37 | More by CRichardsMN

JerseyKirk

New Jersey

2.68/5  rDev -28.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

A: Orange toffeish. White head that cleared quickly. Slightly hazy from bottle conditioning.

S: black espresso. Extremely. Strong bitter coffee. Nuttiness.

T: really sweet with a sharp astringency followed by bitter coffee finish.

M: medium. Balance of sweet and dry.

O: not good. Coffee is too much of an after thought. Stringency is confusing as well. No good.

Serving type: bottle

01-29-2012 20:48:02 | More by JerseyKirk

reallyhoppie

Illinois

2.7/5  rDev -28%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

Poured a 12 oz. bottle into a pint glass. It poured a cloudy brown/amber color with a thin, quickly dissipating head.

Smells strongly of sweet malt and coffee. I'd say maybe old coffee, not necessarily appealing.

Tastes a lot better than it smells. Smooth, sweet malt and a very strong coffee finish. There is also some sort of sour/creamy flavor in the finish that is faintly reminiscent of buttermilk.

Decent mouthfeel. Certainly more creamy and smooth than I would assume from looking at it.

Overall, can't see having more than a couple at a time. Not bad, but it uses the coffee flavor more as a novelty than as component to make a good beer.

(I had this once before on draught and enjoyed much more.)

Serving type: bottle

01-17-2009 06:43:42 | More by reallyhoppie

Jammies

Illinois

2.73/5  rDev -27.2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 3

Aged for 12 months

A- pours a medium dark brown with a thin layer of foam that lingers

S- coffee all day. smells like there are grounds in the beer

T- similar to the 2011. Thin on flavor with heavy coffee on the finish

M- very thin and watery

O- I just tried the 2011 and not much has changed from 2010. i think aging this one only made it worse.

Serving type: bottle

01-28-2012 17:10:41 | More by Jammies

jjanega08

Minnesota

2.78/5  rDev -25.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

A= pours a nice dark brown color with mahongony highlights and no head. No head means no lacing. The beer looks like a coffee in general.

S= coffee is in it for sure but also some chili peppers? I'm getting peppers for some reason. Not sure if this was brewed with peppers or not. Perhaps it has something to do with the coffee they used. Other than that I notice a small amount of chocolatey sweet malt.

T= no as much with the peppers but I do get some. Loads of coffee of course. I almost feel like I got a little spice bite on my tongue from the peppers. Odd. I get a little chocolate but it is all masked by the coffee and peppers.

M= smooth and delicious. Feels like a good doppelbock. The burps coming up even remind me of a doppelbock.

D= interesting beer I guess. Not that great. I haven't read any reviews on it so I'm not sure if other people get peppers but I wasn't expecting it and to say the least its sort of a turn off in the coffee.

Serving type: bottle

12-21-2009 02:34:53 | More by jjanega08

BB1313

Ohio

2.81/5  rDev -25.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2.5

12oz bottle poured into a standard pint glass. I must say from my experience, Dark Horse makes some great looking beers. This one pours a beautiful light hazy brown, which turns a hazy burnt orange in the light. This beer just glows. Has a big white fluffy head; lacing ok. Smells like Folgers.. coffee straight up. I was expecting the taste to be overpowering w/ coffee, it ended up being sharp, but mellow considering how strong it smells. There are strong hints of chocolate as well. The mouthfeel was over-carbonated and ended up being a problem; super fizzy. This one starts off strong, but my interest starts to fade a bit as I get into it.. one's good for me.

This beer has potential to be something special.. maybe if they rework it a little, they can have something unique. The carbonation really brought this beer down; too fizzy. Nonetheless, solid brew. If you're into bitter coffee, this one is still worth seeking out.

Serving type: bottle

12-09-2010 15:27:59 | More by BB1313

eljefe21

Virginia

2.83/5  rDev -24.5%
look: 3 | smell: 4 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

A: Sizzling soda-like pour forms a two-finger head that is gone in a flash. Beer is brown in color with constant tiny bubbles rising to the top. No lacing at all.

S: Smells strongly like a somewhat weak coffee, but a bit sweetish too. Nothing much else as the coffee overpowers everything.

T: A sweet coffee taste coats the mouth. Too sweet for my liking. I really like coffee flavored beers, but this one is just off to me.

M: Mouthfeel is a bit thin which detracts from the coffee flavors. An oily sweetness coats the tongue, which is off putting too.

D: This one won't kill you, but it's not going to wow you either. I managed to make it through the 4-pack after a couple of weeks, one beer a night when I found myself with little else on hand.

Served: in a standard pint glass.

Review from notes taken on: 11/7/09.

Serving type: bottle

11-08-2009 14:49:59 | More by eljefe21

1Adam12

Indiana

2.83/5  rDev -24.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 2 | overall: 3.5

The appearance is probably the best part of this bottle. nice reddish orange color with a small head. just coffee on the nose. coffee at first with the taste, then sweet. The aftertaste reminds me of a cherry blowpop. Unique flavor, but not very impressed. Once is enough for me.

Serving type: bottle

05-12-2011 01:11:40 | More by 1Adam12

EricCioe

Montana

2.88/5  rDev -23.2%
look: 3 | smell: 1 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

I'll be honest: when I got this four pack, I thought something was wrong with the beer. After reading around, though, it seems to be normal, and just to offend most of my senses as almost no beer has before. I went into this one with high hopes based on the coffee and the Dark Horse beers I've already had, but man, was I ever disappointed.

It pours a Coca-Cola black with little or no head and no lacing in a snifter. On the nose the first thing that comes to mind is mushrooms, but breaking it down it seems to be an overpowering note of old coffee grounds, and not in a good way. This is the worst nose I've ever had on a beer. On the tongue the spent and burnt coffee isn't nearly as bad as it is on the nose. I could almost see it being very pleasant if it weren't for the godawful aroma it gives off. The mouthfeel is thin but nice and sharp, not too bad.

If it weren't for the aroma that I find awful and intolerable, I could see myself drinking this one again. It's sort of out there, but it's nice enough if you can get past the smell. But I can't really do that.

Serving type: bottle

12-09-2010 02:08:57 | More by EricCioe

in780

Illinois

2.88/5  rDev -23.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.5

12 oz bottle into a pint glass. Here we go:

A - pours caramel brown with little head, hardly any lacing.

S - Odd. Coffee for sure, but with a citrusy sour aroma too. Certainly unique.

T - Yep, odd. Sweetness from the malts, bitterness from the coffee...should be great, but there's something else that distracts. Could be the hops? Not bad at all, but different for sure.

M - Pretty nice...Appropriately carbonated, a little thinner than some other doppelbocks, but ok

D - Not tough to drink, but I'm not rushing for another

I'll have to try this one again. As it stands, not quite what I was hoping for...I love Dark Horse, and love doppelbocks (and like coffee), but this missed the mark.

Serving type: bottle

12-11-2010 03:52:56 | More by in780

jmendels

Michigan

2.89/5  rDev -22.9%
look: 3 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75

There is a reason certain beers are brewed under the Reinheitsgebot. The doppelbock is by far my favorite beer style, so I was naturally skeptical that a brewery would seek to alter such a strong and already flavorful style. My skepticism was well founded. I picked up a four pack of this brew, in hopes that it would be a nice marriage of dark beer styles. Sadly, it was not. The coffee grounds did not mesh well with the strong flavors of the doppelbock style. The nose smells of rich malt but then diminishes with the coffee smells. The taste also exhibits a conflicted character with the strong maltiness and caramel notes competing with the coffee notes. This one is a unique experience, but not one I'd seek out again.

Serving type: bottle

04-10-2013 01:40:39 | More by jmendels

Knapp85

Pennsylvania

2.9/5  rDev -22.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours out as a brownish orange color without much head. The beer is a bit lighter in color than I expected. The smell is heavy with coffee. I'm not really able to pull much more from this. The taste has a big and bold coffee flavor to it. There isn't much depth here. It's like drinking a chilled black coffee to me. I wasn't able to get much malt of hop flavors at all. The coffee just really over powers everything in this beer. The mouthfeel in medium and doesn't have much carbonation. Overall this was a little disappointing.

Serving type: bottle

06-02-2011 19:41:10 | More by Knapp85

Cresant

Kentucky

3/5  rDev -20%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

poured this 12 oz. brown bottle into a SN Hops tulip. A moderate to hard pour created minimal head which faded to an island of light tan, then nothing. The body was a hazy cola/leather color.

Smell was mild coffee and plums. Sweet grains. Stewed fruits.

Taste was malty. Light coffee flavors that linger with bitterness. Brown sugar. Primarily doppelbock characteristics with a understated coffee presence. Nicely done.

Mouthfeel was medium in body with moderate carbonation.

Serving type: bottle

12-19-2008 15:45:13 | More by Cresant

weatherdog

Illinois

3/5  rDev -20%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

12 oz. bottle poured into a John Smith snifter

It pours a slightly hazy mahogany with a 1 finger head that dies quite quickly. No lacing on the sides of the glass and the beer looks fairly lifeless in the glass.

The nose is immediately strong coffee. Upon deeper smelling and thought I conclude that the coffee, while strong, isn't really that great. The aroma is akin spent coffee grounds after they had sat all day in the coffee machine. You know what I'm talking about, you get up to make a pot in the morning and find that your wife, or more likely you left the old filter in there. It's not unpleasant by any means, but I'm well versed enough in coffee beers to now this isn't the best aroma.

Sadly that stale day old coffee ground type flavor comes through into the flavor. I really love coffee flavored beers and this one isn't doing it for me. It's fairly bitter with just this overwhelming old coffee taste. A positive about the flavor is that the finish has a nice malty sweetness that allows the bitterness to subside.

Mouthfeel is medium and carb level is right where I'd like it and within the style guidelines. Drinkability is average simply for the stale coffee taste. No alcohol flavor or aroma can be detected which is good.

Serving type: bottle

11-08-2010 03:57:59 | More by weatherdog