David Brockington's Tasting Notebook

Oasis Nileator Doppelbock

Oasis Brewery and Restaurant
1095 Canyon Blvd.
Boulder, Colorado
(303) 449-0363

Initial Impressions:

I received my MA this past year at Western Washington University in beautiful Bellingham, Washington. Political Science at WWU is a terminal masters program; if I wanted to further endure this endless odyssey of graduate school I would have to do so elsewhere. I sent out a battery of applications, and the offers came sprinkling in during the month of March. Considering all sorts of preliminary factors, I winnowed my list down to the University of Colorado and the University of Washington. I was serious about possibly leaving Washington State, so I visited Boulder in early April of 1995 to check out the program at Colorado, the town, and all the usual sort of ancillary appointments one expects in a place to call home for four or five years.

Of course, one such appointment in my life is beer. The reputation of Boulder's beer makes it out to Seattle, but I needed to see what it was all about for myself. In fact, I could be charged with disguising a beer trip as an academic meeting since I visited three of Boulder's brewpubs the evening before I met the fine people at Colorado's political science department. I do have my priorities firmly in order.

Oasis was the second of the three I visited, which also included Rockies Brewing (the former Boulder Brewing Company) and the Walnut Brewery. Oasis was the best of the three, by far; while I liked the shirt I bought at the Walnut, the beer was lifeless and insipid. I sampled several beers at Oasis that night in April, but the one that I took detailed notes on was the seasonal doppelbock.

In the glass, the beer was deep amber, almost garnet. It was brilliantly bright; the bartender confirmed that the beer was filtered. The head was pale tan, and retention was medium.

Nose:

The telling feature of a good doppelbock is the depth of maltiness. Technically, doppelbocks ought to be crafted using decoction mashing. Such a procedure maximizes melanoidin production, which several beer scholars argue is essential to achieving the deep malty aroma and flavor that distinguish excellent doppelbocks from the pretenders. (See Darryl Richman's excellent treatise on the subject, entitled Bock, which has a good treatment on the subject of melanoidens and their production.)

The aroma of the Nileator had the requisite level of maltiness worthy of a fine doppelbock. While I do not know whether or not this beer was decocted, the aroma was close to spot on.

Flavor:

Unlike the previous doppelbock that I reviewed to this forum, Saxer's Liberator, the depth of maltiness encountered in the nose carried through to the flavor profile. The first flavor encountered, in fact, was an excellent deep maltiness. This moved into a moderate warming effect from a high level of alcohol. The finish was sudden and truncated with a dry chalkiness. While doppelbocks are supposed to emulate Munich's brewing water, which is moderately high in carbonates producing a dry finish, one should not encounter an abrupt chalkiness. That would seem to implicate a high sulfate content, characteristic of a liberal dose of gypsum to the brewing water. All of the Oasis beers that I sampled that evening had the same rough and abrupt chalky finish. Finish aside, the overall flavor profile was crisp as a lager ought to be; there was no perceptible evidence of fermentation byproducts such as fruity esters or diacetyl.

Final Analysis:

While the maltiness was evident in the nose and flavor, the truncated finish of this beer really detracted from the experience. Furthermore, even though the depth of maltiness was nice, it tended to be an unexciting maltiness. A doppelbock ought to have some spicy notes from the use of a good Munich malt, which this beer lacked in its flavor. Munich spiciness may have been present, but it could have been overwhelmed by either the alcoholic warmth or the abrupt finish. Some alcoholic warming is expected in a beer of this strength, but it should support existing flavors rather than be a central characteristic of its own. Malt/hop balance was good; while the beer had an amazing depth of maltiness, it wasn't cloyingly sweet. Overall, a good effort; with a little work this could be a great doppelbock.

Rating: ***1/2

(5-star scale)

Next Up:

Wharf Rat Blackfriar Stout
Bell's Special Double Cream Stout
Copyright 1996 by David Brockington, all rights reserved.
Seattle

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