Abita Strawgator Strawberry Doppelbock – A First Sampling

It’s not often that you hear the average craft beer drinker raving about a Doppelbock-style brew.  It’s not that they’re not great beers, it’s simply that a) not a lot of people brew them and b) not a lot of breweries promote them like they do an IPA.

While that may be bad news for craft beer drinkers, I’m about to bring you good news; and it involves a Doppelbock.

A big thank you to Abita for sending up a sample of their Strawgator.  As you may have guessed, this beer begins life as a Doppelbock-style beer and based on my palate, it seems to start as Abita’s classic Andygator Helles Doppelbock.  From there Abita adds Strawberries.  As Abita puts it, this is the “fusion of Strawberry Harvest Lager sweetness and the bite of Andygator.”  As a fan of both beers, I’m happy to report that I’m an even bigger fan of their offspring.

Strawgator is a golden lager that is hopped with German Perle hops.  Abita also uses fresh Louisiana strawberry juice and the combination has a really pleasant malty/berry aroma.  Strawgator has a likeable sweetness, partially from the berries and partially from the malty backbone you’d expect in a Doppelbock.  The appearance is slightly cloudy and the beer finishes crisp and cleaner than I expected.

Strawgator is packaged in 22oz bottles and the beer will hit 8%-AbV and 27 IBU.  Be sure to try this beer, especially while the weather is warm…and as always, be sure to let me know what YOU think.

PS Wait until you try Strawgator with cheesecake!