David Brockington's Tasting Notebook

Saxer Liberator Doppelbock

Saxer Brewing Company
5875 Lakeview Blvd.
Lake Oswego, Oregon
503-699-9524

Initial Impressions:

Saxer is a relatively new microbrewery in the Portland scene, having opened in April of 1993. Saxer has a capacity of 20k bbl, bottles a great deal of their product, and exclusively brews lager. While this is a noble pursuit in an industry still dominated by ales, such an approach becomes problematic in the case of their "stout". They claim that it is "perhaps the only lagered stout in America", to which I would respond that it isn't, because there is really no such thing. I have had the "stout" on several occasions, and believe it should possibly be considered a schwarzbier. Saxer leases out excess capacity to the Jim Koch owned Oregon Brewing Company (or whatever they are officially known as). Do not be fooled by this latest spin on contract brewing; it is simply Jim Koch's way of milking a few more bucks out of the market. Finally, Saxer is also notorious in these parts as the producer of the "Lemon Lager". I refuse to review that particular beverage. Aside from all that, Saxer does brew several credible to excellent beers.

The Doppelbock is such a beer. My sample of this beer arrived in a standard 14oz shaker pint glass. The beer had a brilliantly clear, deep garnet color. I thought it to be rather attractive.

Nose:

The dominant feature of the nose, and perhaps most surprising, was the requisite depth-of-maltiness that only comes from either using the right ingredients, decocting, or both. Clearly evident was the nice malty spiciness one gets from Munich malts. While I do not know what brand of malt went into this beer, I did later discover that Saxer indeed decocts this beer, although the exact procedure remains unknown. The use of the decoction -- even if it was only a single -- created enough melanoidins to give this beer its nice malty aroma.

Flavor:

The flavor was not as stunning as the aroma predicted. A maltiness was first noted up front, slightly spicy, which slowly tapered off into an alcoholic warmth. A slight, but lingering, hop bitterness followed.

Final Analysis:

While this beer is not in the classic vein as a Salvator, it comes as close as most domestic doppelbocks. What it has going for it is its stunning bouquet; what it lacks is an equally stunning big, deep maltiness in the flavor profile. The hopping seemed a shade excessive as well. Still, it is highly recommended by this reviewer.

Rating: ****

(5-star scale)

Next Up:

Oasis Nileator Doppelbock
Star IPA
Wharf Rat Blackfriar Stout
Copyright 1995 by David Brockington, all rights reserved.
Seattle

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