Smooth Hoperator - Stoudts Brewing Co.

Darkmagus82

Montana

4/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Served on tap in a 10 oz snifter

Appearance – Served an amber colored brew with a half finger white head. The head faded over a moderate time to leave a decent level of lacing.

Smell – The aroma was heaviest of malt and some toffee and caramel sweetness. Mixed with these aromas were some good hoppy aromas of a grapefruit citrus as well as a pine aroma.

Taste – The taste begins with a sweet toffee and malty flavor with a good presence of a grapefruit hop flavor. As the taste moves more toward the middle there are flavors of a pine hop that come to the tongue. While this occurs some of the sweetness fades a bit. In the end the pine and grapefruit grow slightly stronger and in the end leave a hop bittered, but malt balanced flavor on the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is smooth and creamy with a carbonation level that is just about average. The smooth and creamier body is great for the hop flavors and really lets them shine through the flavor profile.

Overall – Quite nice. The beer has a great flavor profile, nice flavor transitions as well a good feel for the style . While not what I would consider a doppelbock, it is a god blend of doppel and IPA. Its very drinkable, flavorful, and very tasty.

Serving type: on-tap

10-26-2012 00:13:51 | More by Darkmagus82

InspectorBob

New Jersey

4/5  rDev +0.5%

05-23-2013 21:01:53 | More by InspectorBob

Hendry

Vermont

3.8/5  rDev -4.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Kinda bought Smooth Hoperator alongside Stoudt's IIPA on a whim. Not realizing this was a Dopplebock upon purchasing, the beauty of beer shopping with other people's money (splitting the cost with buddies for out-of-state-varieties) allows one to stretch out the budget with a wider variety with less risk (getting hung with mutiples that don't meet the credentials of a second purchase).

The rich,creamy two finger head that rests atop the deep ruby hue stays put until settling down to a permanent cap with average lacing in the snifter style glass.

The nose is aggressively sweet and yeasty, behaving like a concoction brewed closer to Belgium than Germany (more so than U.S.A. especially), which is the birthplace of the Dopplebock. There are indeed some malts present in the aroma, but this is a sort of hopped up mongrel that defies description.

The taste is sharp and very European in the way of yeast delivery, but again, I'm thinking about Brussels rather than Munich (certainly not Pennsylvania, U.S.A.). There is an immediate sweetness of malts followed by a confusing and unexpected blend of aggressive yeast and hops. The long yeasty aftertaste is slightly apple-cidery and unusual, if not unique.

For my taste, this is a Dopplebock that is unsure of it's own identity: the yeasty kick seems more trapist inspired rather than what one would typically imagine from a quality German Dopplebock (such as Ayinger). While worth a try for those that appreciate Belgian yeastiness, this is one of those beers that makes me appreciate splitting six packs with friends so I don't have to look at 5 more bottles for the next year.

Serving type: bottle

05-12-2013 04:14:31 | More by Hendry

Bill235

Ohio

4/5  rDev +0.5%

05-09-2013 21:46:31 | More by Bill235

HipHopinHooligan13

North Carolina

4.25/5  rDev +6.8%

05-05-2013 15:17:09 | More by HipHopinHooligan13

Tim

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +0.5%

04-25-2013 00:12:04 | More by Tim

DrunkinYogi

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +0.5%

04-19-2013 02:29:56 | More by DrunkinYogi

Cdunk11

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev -5.8%

04-12-2013 23:45:43 | More by Cdunk11

Immortale25

Florida

3.73/5  rDev -6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

Poured into a Due South Brewing Co. snifter. No freshness date.

A- Pours a reddish dark amber color with a 3/4 inch tan head that retains pretty well before it works its way down to a thick ring around the edge of the glass and a mostly full sheet of surface foam. Sudsy lacing leaves a thin ring behind on the glass.

S- Fresh piney hop aroma with some faint citrus notes. Good cereal grain sweetness. Smells more like an IPA than a Doppelbock. Overall, quite earthy.

T- Bitterness comes on strong and has little malt backing it given the color. Taste is slightly metallic and one-dimensional. Just bitter hops that are redundant and lack the citrus and sweetness from the aroma.

M- Sticky, borderline syrupy with a harsh bite from the hops and not much body. Medium carbonation.

O- The aroma is such a tease considering the rest of the beer's characteristics are closer to mediocre. By the way, they totally missed the chance to call this Hoppelbock. That would be a better name since the hops in this are anything but smooth.

Serving type: bottle

04-10-2013 01:55:26 | More by Immortale25

dcbeers

District of Columbia

4.25/5  rDev +6.8%

04-07-2013 16:38:30 | More by dcbeers

onix1agr

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +0.5%

03-24-2013 05:26:04 | More by onix1agr

TheBigBoy

Pennsylvania

2.5/5  rDev -37.2%

03-15-2013 21:23:28 | More by TheBigBoy

calcnerd

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +0.5%

03-07-2013 02:57:02 | More by calcnerd

brez8791

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +0.5%

03-05-2013 01:29:13 | More by brez8791

WoodBrew

Illinois

4.75/5  rDev +19.3%

03-04-2013 03:15:42 | More by WoodBrew

shand

Florida

4.3/5  rDev +8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Grabbed this one blind expecting an IPA, didn't quite realize that the slick-ass dude on the cover was actually a dude-goat. Smooth Hoperator pours an amber-brown color with three fingers of very well retaining head. The aroma is very rich with caramel malts, but there's plenty of citrus and pine hops hanging out on the nose too. The taste is excellent, the malts rule the show at first, with some caramel and toasted malts up front, but the finish belongs to the citrus and pine hops. The mouthfeel is on the lighter side for a dopplebock, and the light carbonation is spot-on. Overall, Smooth Hoperator is a robust beer that should appeal to fans of maltier IPAs and dopplebocks alike.

Serving type: bottle

02-08-2013 22:26:32 | More by shand

JohnK17

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev -5.8%

01-31-2013 16:48:57 | More by JohnK17

440kk

Ohio

3.75/5  rDev -5.8%

01-23-2013 03:49:59 | More by 440kk

babaracas

Florida

3.51/5  rDev -11.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Pours a slightly hazy copper with huge cream colored head; settles slowly into a meringue-like cap with thick clumps of lace on the glass. Smell: floral with spicy, grassy, and sweet citrus notes. Sweet, slightly grainy. Taste: quite sweet... caramel, sweet apple, earthy, nectarine, herbal with a little orange citrus. Hoppy finish, but oddly drying and tannic. Miss, but if I was going to drink a ton of doppelbocks, I might throw one of these in from time to time for something different.

Serving type: bottle

01-16-2013 07:33:55 | More by babaracas

tastymug

Ohio

4/5  rDev +0.5%

01-14-2013 00:43:18 | More by tastymug

weaselchew

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +0.5%

01-11-2013 22:30:44 | More by weaselchew

TequilaTom

Ohio

3.5/5  rDev -12.1%

01-09-2013 13:51:38 | More by TequilaTom

dsshuck

Maryland

4.25/5  rDev +6.8%

12-31-2012 21:43:52 | More by dsshuck

sendbeer

Georgia

4.25/5  rDev +6.8%

12-21-2012 20:11:02 | More by sendbeer

Cluker

Florida

3.75/5  rDev -5.8%

12-16-2012 23:40:22 | More by Cluker