Tucher Bajuvator Doppel

Myself and my good pal Jimmy Redmond took a trip to Galway on a quest for some new beers recently.

The Tucher Brewery was one of many that made the cut.
What appealed to me most about the Tucher range was the consistency between nose and palate; I often find with some of the German beers available on the Irish market; they seem to either have one or the other
- a mouthwatering nose with a flavourless palate or vice versa.

Tucher is from Nuremberg; Germany and was established in 1672. The brewery has had a chequered history of complicated name changes; in the form of  ''The Wheat Beer Brewery'' - direct translation and then becoming ''The Royal Wheat Beer Brewery''. Finally it was purchased in the mid 19th century by the Tucher family; they still make a mean Weiss beer and well worth trying.

The Dopplebock; Bajuvator; comes in at 7.5% abv. As a fan of the German strong beers; this; for me is a perfect example of a well balanced; creamy; one beer wonder; although the German cartoon Fraulein carrying at least 6 steins; on the label indicates a session beer...

It smells like sweet caramel and I get desiccated coconut; vanilla; mashed bananas with a milkiness. In the glass it's a rich dark brown colour with reddy; golden flecks and a brown creamy head.
The palate is slightly perfumed initially which gives way to the caramel creaminess of the nose; ripe banana and this lovely balanced sweetness that you'd expect from the 7.5% abv. The sweetness is by no mead clawing and falls away to a milky banana flavour on the finish.

We also have Tucher Pilsener; Dunkel and Weiss... Take your pick!
Ruth.