The Savior

Today is Fat Tuesday which means that Ash Wednesday is tomorrow, marking the start of lent. I'm not the least bit religious, and I have no intention of giving anything up for 40 days, but I will drink plenty of dopplebock to honor those Christians that do.

You see, dopplebock came to us from conniving German monks that exploited a Christian loophole on fasting that allows liquid nourishment during hours of fast. So, those industrious monks made the strongest, most wholesome beer possible by almost doubling the amount of grain used in their normal bock beer, hence the name dopplebock. Nowadays, Germans aptly describe the malt bomb as "liquid bread" or a "meal in a glass." Back in the 1600's though, monks called it "savior" or "salvator." Paulaner Salvator is probably the oldest version of dopplebock but there are many others, German and American alike, worth checking out.

Besides loving the rich, toasty, malt flavor of a well brewed dopplebock, I love the naming and labeling convention that has stuck around since the original dopplebocks were brewed.

First the names. After "Salvator" came out, it became tradition to have a name with the suffix, "ator." For example you have the old school German brewers with dopplebocks like:

• Spaten Optimator
• Augustiner Maximator
• Ayinger Celebrator

Then on the American side, you have some craft breweries that have embraced the tradition and put their own playful twist on it with names like:

• Bell's Consecrator
• Wild Dog Collaborator
• Fisherman's Navigator
• Thomas Hooker's Liberator
• Dock Street Illuminator

There are plenty more out there, but now on to the labels. Most dopplebocks and for that matter their weaker siblings, bocks, have a billygoat somewhere on the label. You see, bock was originally brewed in Einbeck, Germany and somehow Einbeck was corrupted into bock which happens to mean goat in Germany. With people overindulging on these above average strength beers and acting like billygoats the label kind of stuck.

If you're in the city, plan on finding these somewhat seasonal beers on tap at Zum Schneider and Loreley or in bottles at the usual beer bars. The color ranges from amber to dark brown and they are all characterized by a malty, toasty flavor that is just barely mitigated by a slight hopping.

Enjoy Lent, just don't act like a goat.