Capital Brewery
Microbrewery
in Middleton,
Wisconsin,
United States 🇺🇸
Associated Venue: Capital Brewery
Established in 1984
Dogbrick (24152) reviewed Dark Doppelbock from Capital Brewery 20 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Nothing will ever come close to Celebrator in the Doppelbock category but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some other good ones out there. This is a fine example of that fact. Pours a dark brown color with a reddish halo. Thin, dense beige head and thin lacing. The aroma is sweet roasted malt, nuts and dark fruit. Medium-bodied and smooth with a well-rounded array of flavors, from malt, caramel and vanilla to nuts and hops. The only downside is the flavor disappears quickly. The upside is taking that next drink to refresh the flavor isn’t hard at all. The finish is mostly sweet malt with a touch of raisins. Good work on this one by Capital.
Clarkvv (16327) reviewed Autumnal Fire from Capital Brewery 20 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5
2004 bottle Huge thanks to Heemer77 for getting this one for me. Had been wanting to try it for a long time. Good auburn mixed with amber colored body on it, clear, with a small dark yellow/light tan head. Fruity notes are given off, as is a thick, robust caramel malt. Notes of alcohol are well intertwined with the sweetness, producing a fiery, rich smell. Flavor is much the same, though perhaps even more sweet than the aroma had set me up for. Sticky, coating caramel and toffee sweetness, with a light fruitiness in the background. Light creamy maple fudge notes add to the sweetness. Alcohol attempts to dry out the body, but dosent succeed in doing so. Spicy notes mix with the candied sweetness on the end and the finish is relatively quick. Medium body, with more flavor, sweetness, alcohol and hops than the body seems to support. Not overly complex, but pretty tastey. The Fish Tale Doppelbock later in the night would prove to be more complex.
Aged bottle from Styles drunk in early March ’07
Not exactly sure how old, but it definitely shows no negative signs of aging. Actually one of the best German beers I’ve had and much better than the more fresh bottle I had. I guess it couldnt be more than a 1.5 years old as it still poured a large head and was retained well.
The flavor and mouthfeel were about as perfect as I can imagine for a doppelbock. Delicious mix of light fruitiness, vanilla-cream maltiness, slight bits of toffee chewiness, moderate caramel and just a hint of spicy hops (earth, herbs, leafiness, clove) to give it a pinch of bitterness. Sweetness is perfect. Enough to give it a wonderful malty-creamy texture but not to the point of being cloying or inhibiting drinkability. Even a bit of red fruitiness (red apples, berries, cherries) to add complexity. Breadiness and acidity seem to have vanished (not that they are that persistent in this beer to begin with). I really like that, who needs all the sourness/breadiness/acidity? I don’t see what it adds, other than maybe a more authentic feel. Mouthfeel is perfect on this. I think I drank my glass in 4 sips and almost opened the second bottle that Chris sent me. Score is for this bottle.
NotABeerProfessor (3574) reviewed 1900 from Capital Brewery 20 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5
If there’s one thing this brewery does, besides doing lots of great lagers, its nailing particular lager styles dead on. Its true of their fest and bocks, their helles, and very much true with this pre-proh style lager. Too bad its not the nicest of styles in the world. Sweetish palate, a twangy finish possibly from corn syrup. Light hop character hints at the same kind of spiciness I get from their pilsner and helles. Meh.
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6
Fairly nice, a good all malt lager. Gold, with a small amount of chill haze, not much head. Aroma is brightly spicy and pleasing, with some buttery malts, reminding me on the whole of their helles but with more of each ingredient. Flavor similar, but the heavier palate didn’t sit well for a pilsner, with a thickish mouthfeel. Hops became tangy and sharp in the finish. Not nearly the worst pilsner, but definitely not the best I’ve had either.
NotABeerProfessor (3574) reviewed Munich Dark from Capital Brewery 20 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
Beautiful, just really good stuff. Reddish chocolatey color, rich chocolatey toffee candy aroma. Enticing nose, couldn’t wait to drink it, and I didn’t. Rounded chocolate toffee caramel flavor, exceptionally smooth. Yea, the carbonation was a little low, but the amazing smoothness made up for it. You could almost think this was nitro’d, but of course it isn’t.
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Darkish amber, medium fading head. Aroma a little substandard. Hop levels low, a bit of a woody mushroomy presence at most. Typical. Clean and sweetish palate, but I’d prefer something more along the lines of an "authentic" vienna with those richer juicier vienna malts. With this instead I get a light caramel flavor, a tinge of butterscotch. I would take this to be Capital’s attempt at something a little more accessible, but of course they succeed by foregoing character and authenticity.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5
Very clear, lively golden color, medium firm head, fading. Nice spicy aroma! Layers of buttered malts underneath those hops. Dammit, that’s a nice smooth lager, well built sophisticated hop flavors. Malts come through much cleaner across the palate than in the nose, finish is balanced. Could use more bubbles. I could make a real habit of this one!
JK (8140) reviewed Winter Skål from Capital Brewery 20 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Very large rocky head. Copper colored. Strange chemical aroma with malt. Flavor is malt, sweet carmel, and a bitter hop finish.
JK (8140) reviewed Special Pilsner from Capital Brewery 20 years ago
Appearance - 2 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3
Light hop aroma and mild hop flavor. Standard yellow. Bitter. light body. A small step above a standard lager.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
This turned out to be the ideal beer to rejuvenate my ratings. I think I had been resorting to rating a little too much by style, rather just on a beer’s own merits - and especially when I pick up a beer in one of my favorite styles, I’m going to take notice when it doesn’t completely match up to the standard (in the case of doppels, Celebrator sets the standard for me). But while this may lack some of the huge melanoidiny Munich malts of Celebrator and others, this turns out to be a very nice easy drinking dark lager. There is plenty of toffeeish malt, if restrained and balanced by a semi-dry finish. Very smooth. Attractive deep reddish color. I could drink alot of this, even for its strength.
Brewery Stats
| Score | 6.54 |
| Beers | 54 |
| Ticks | 416 |
Top Reviewers (Not including batches)
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JK | 28 |
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nuplastikk | 27 |
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Drake | 25 |
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McDermottDrink | 19 |
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Clarkvv | 17 |
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SpringsLicker | 13 |
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Dogbrick | 13 |
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bhensonb | 11 |
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thegreenrooster | 11 |
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jmagnus87 | 11 |