Salvator Doppelbock

The city of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany, is home to a great number of the world's classic beers.  I mentioned last week that it's difficult to find a good starting point when it comes to describing Belgian beers.  It's the same with beers from Munich, which is the cradle of so many of the brews that inspired this blog.  But I wanted to start off with one of Munich's finest and most original offerings: Salvator Doppelbock.  Salvator is a product of the Paulaner Brewery, which was established in 1634 by a cloister of Minim friars in Munich.  The brewery was named after St. Francis of Paola, the founder of the Order of Minims.  It is just one of many breweries in Munich that measure their age in centuries rather than years (and one of several that trace their origins to a religious order).

Many beer drinkers are familiar with bock, the strong, dark lager traditionally brewed in Germany to commemorate the beginning of spring.  There are hundreds of bocks currently produced throughout Germany and the world, of which Shiner Bock is probably the best known example here in these United States (we'll dive into the bock style in later posts - it's one of my personal favorite beers ).  The term Doppelbock, German for "double bock," was coined by the Paulaner Brewery in order to indicate Salvator's high alcohol content relative to regular bock.  But this doesn't mean that Salvator Doppelbock was created just as a stronger version of your average bock.  It has its own lineage that dates to a time when beer was more than just an awesome social beverage.

Munich is now primarily known for producing light, flavorful lagers like like Spaten and Lowenbrau.  But dark beers are at the heart of Munich's brewing tradition.  From the very founding of the Paulaner Brewery in the 17th century, the Minims brewed a strong and malty beer that was intended to provide sustenance to the monks during the Lenten fast.  Legend holds that this brew, which was considered an acceptable substitute for bread, was nicknamed salvator - Latin for "savior" - thanks to its life-sustaining qualities.

Of course, the monks weren't just sitting around chugging high-alcohol beer on an empty stomach.  The beer they brewed in those days was not fully fermented like the beers of today are, which means their brew was likely much sweeter and much less alcoholic than the current version.  Over the next couple of centuries the introduction of new types of yeast and improvement of lagering techniques (fermenting and storing beer at cold temperatures) refined Salvator into a beer that was not only rich and dark but also smooth and alcoholic.  By the 1890s the beer had become extremely popular as a springtime festival beer, and was served on the same occasions where bocks were traditionally enjoyed.  Salvator and its many imitators therefore called themselves doppel bock, both as a reference to their higher alcohol content and a boast of their superiority.

True to its heritage, Paulaner still releases its yearly batch of Salvator in the early spring - right around the beginning of Lent.  I couldn't in good conscience recommend an all-beer diet for 46 days, but this guy - who was inspired by the 17th-century monks of Paulaner - was recently able to pull it off.

Salvator is what you might call a beer drinker's beer. It has an assertive malty flavor that comes from a mixture of light and dark German malted barley.  This blend of malts render a brew that is coppery-brown with a slight ruby tinge and an off-white head.  Take a drink of it and you can see how it got its reputation as a "liquid bread": this rich and filling brew is a meal in and of itself.  The finished product clocks in at around 7.5% ABV, and the alcohol is certainly evident in the taste of the beer, underlying the richness of the malt.  But after the initial burst of malt and alcohol the aftertaste of this beer is extremely smooth; you get a satisfying finish with just a faint residue of floral German hops.  Overall, it is richer, more intense, and more complex than a standard bock.  But if you like one I'm pretty sure you'll like the other.

After the success of Salvator in the late 19th century, several breweries in Germany began producing their own versions of doppelbock.  Paulaner's Salvator was so synonymous with the style that other breweries gave their own doppelbocks names that end in "-ator" in order to identify them as disciples of the original.  I can highly recommend Ayinger Celebrator and Spaten Optimator, both of which are flavorful brews that also hail from Bavaria.  The doppelbock tradition is also alive and well in the world of American microbrews.  Bell's Consecrator is an American double bock that, in my opinion, rivals the alcoholic-yet-smooth flavor and malty richness of Salvator.  But if you're looking for an introduction to the doppelbock style you can't do better than the world's original, a shining example of the Munich brewing tradition.